Toyota Europe Plans to Lift Sales and Market Share

According to Khabarkhodro,Toyota plans to increase sales in Europe in 2012 to at least 835,000 from 822,386, and to grab 4.5% share compared to 4.2% from last year.

The company puts its faith in the new hybrid version of the Yaris subcompact and other models. Toyota may source parts for its hybrid cars from Europe, should sales in the region reach 150,000-250,000 vehicles. The Auris is built in Britain, but the components are brought from Japan, which means higher costs. This could affect the market competitiveness of the smaller Yaris hybrid when production will begin this April in France.

“We believe that there is a big crisis of confidence for the customer in Europe. The next thing that we would like to localize in Europe is probably the hybrid powertrain of our cars,” said Alain Uyttenhoven, vice president at Toyota Europe.

Toyota and Lexus hybrid sales reached 84,839 vehicles in Europe last year, accounting for 10 percent of sales, but the company plans to increase the sales of hybrid vehicles in Europe with 14% this year and 20% in 2013 or 2014.