NAGOYA (Kyodo) Automobile sales by Toyota Motor Corp. in Asia over the past year will outnumber those in the domestic market for the first time, due mainly to a steep sales increase in China, according to industry sources.
Toyota sold about 1.35 million vehicles in Asia in the first 11 months of the year, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, compared with 1.26 million in Japan.
The growth in Asia was led by a 20.7 percent increase to 622,000 vehicles in China.
Sales in China are likely to reach about 700,000 units for the entire year, the industry sources said.
The Asian market therefore is expected to become the second-largest market for Toyota in 2009 after North America, where the automaker sold 1.77 million vehicles in the January-November period, the sources said.
In November alone, sales showed a recovery also in India, Thailand and Vietnam, the sources added.