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Toyota Motor Corp. posted record October global sales and production on strong demand for its cars in North America and Europe.
The world’s largest automaker produced 1,035,569 vehicles last month, including output from subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., up 12% from a year earlier. Sales rose 5.6% to 970,313 vehicles, of which 190,835 were sold in its home market of Japan, Toyota said in a statement Wednesday.
European sales climbed 15% from a year earlier, and North American sales gained 7.4%.
Toyota earlier this month raised its operating profit forecast 50% after posting record quarterly earnings. Sales in the six months through September surged to a record 5.6 million vehicles, putting the automaker on track for its 11.4 million-unit goal for the fiscal year.
Still, the company is lagging behind in the shift to electric vehicles. Toyota sold 9,357 battery EVs globally in October, and sales in China — where more and more drivers are switching to EVs — rose just 1.5% from a year earlier. At this month’s earnings, Toyota lowered its EV sales goal for the current fiscal year to 123,000 cars from 202,000.
When Koji Sato was appointed as Toyota’s chief executive officer earlier this year, he pledged to sell 1.5 million battery EVs annually by 2026, and 3.5 million by 2030. At last month’s Japan Mobility Show, he unveiled a pair of concept cars as a teaser for the EV line-up Toyota promised to roll out in 2026.
To help fund the shift to EVs, Toyota and its affiliated companies are planning to sell stakes in parts supplier Denso Corp. for about ¥700 billion, according to Reuters and the Nikkei.
Meanwhile, Toyota re-introduced the Land Cruiser “70” in Japan on Wednesday. The series was first launched in 1984.
Separately, Honda Motor Co. said its global output jumped 23% to 405,276 units, despite a drop in China. Sales increased 23% to 372,077 units, reflecting strong performance in the US and Asia.
Nissan Motor Co. produced 310,480 units in the month, up 4.3% from a year earlier, to log the first rise in four months. Sales rose 5% to 279,102 vehicles.
(Updates with Honda, Nissan figures.)
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