Toyota Motor sells 585,000 vehicles in China in 2008

Jan. 12, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Toyota Motor Corp, the world's second largest automaker by annual vehicle sales, announced that its vehicle sales in China amounted to 585,000 units in 2008, representing a robust year-on-year increment of 17%.

The top Japanese automaker said in a statement released last year that its China sales surged 62% to 499,000 vehicles in 2007.

According to China Knowledge's earlier report, in November last year, the carmaker slashed its2008 auto sales forecast for China by 100,000 vehicles to 600,000. Toyota's sales growth rate in the Chinese market was expected to drop to 25% from the previous forecast of 46%.

Toyota, the third largest foreign car brand in China, is the second largest automaker by sales in the Chinese passenger car market.

In addition, Honda Motor sold 473,297 vehicles in China last year, up 11.7% from a year earlier.

In 2008, the sales of Volkswagen AG in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau jumped 12.5% to 1.02 million vehicles, sources said.