Toyota Motor Corp. is on the verge of setting its 2012 global production target for Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles at a record 8.65 million, company officials announced Saturday.
The automaker is looking to surpass the 8.53 million units it turned out in 2007, before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in autumn 2008 hobbled the global economy.
Domestic output alone is expected to exceed 3 million units, the threshold Toyota says is required to maintain its current number of employees and level of funding for research and development, the officials said.
Toyota will announce the new target soon, they added.