Toyota 'to slash 2009 sales target'

Car giant Toyota will slash its global sales target for 2009 to around eight million vehicles, it was reported today.

The company, which has an assembly plant at Burnaston, near Derby, and an engine plant at Deeside, north Wales, has been hit by nosediving demand amid the deepening global downturn, reports said.

The latest sales projection is down nearly 18% from Toyota’s previous forecast of 9.7 million vehicles.

Japan’s top car maker expects a prolonged slump in demand in the US and Europe in 2009, with sales seen flat in Japan, said the Nikkei, Japan’s top business daily, citing no sources. A Toyota spokeswoman did not confirm the report.

The Mainichi daily said Toyota would announce the sales target for 2009 later this month.

Toyota’s sales in the US dropped 34% in November and the company said yesterday it would further reduce production at several factories in North America.