Toyota expects 7% sales hike

MANILA, Philippines –  Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) is expecting a six to seven percent growth in sales for this year as it plan to increase production in its Laguna plant.

At the same time, the car firm’s luxury brand Lexus reported a 37 percent growth in sales for 2010.

In an interview, Lexus president Danny Isla said they expect a 30 percent sales increase for this year. Last year, Isla said they grew by 37 percent as they sold 235 units. Of this, he said only seven are hybrid vehicles.

Isla said that they will be introducing the CT 200H in February. This hybrid vehicle costs between P2.3 million and P2.8 million. Initially, Isla said that they will bring in 40 units of this vehicle.

TMP president Michinobu Sugata said that Toyota was able to sell 57,000 units. For this year, the company is targeting to sell 61,000 to 62,000 units.

When asked why they are projecting a slower growth this year, Sugata said that the seven percent growth is already “very aggressive” given the industry target of four percent to five percent only. Last year, Toyota grew by 23 percent.

Sugata said that half of the vehicles they sold were locally assembled. This was an increase from 2009 production which was only at 25,000. “Now we are producing 30,500 units. This is the highest production since 1997.”

With the increase in production, Sugata said that they are already operating at full capacity, the first time in 14 years.

Sugata said that they will definitely increase production this year but they are uncertain by how many. With the increase in production, Sugata said that they will have to put in more money into their plant. “We have plans to rehabilitate our plants.” However, Sugata refused to say how much they intend to invest.

Earlier, Yuji Goto, executive vice president of TMP explained that the slower sales this year is because 2010 was an extraordinary year.

 “Since market performance last year was exceptional due to the success of the national elections and spillover effect of urban flooding, we expect this year that the market to go back to its normal course,” Goto said.

“We are positive that 2011 will benefit from the strong momentum as consumer confidence and local economy continues to grow,” he added.

According to Goto, the growth this year will be fueled strong consumer spending and a stable economy.

“Similar to the p evious year, we believe that the local economy will play a significant role in the growth of the auto industry with the robust influx of OFW remittances, strong peso and continuous stability of the government,” Goto said.