Toyota's China sales rise 42% to 65,500 units in Oct

Nov. 6, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corp Tuesday announced it sold 65,500 vehicles in China in October, 42% more than last October, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing a company spokesman as saying.

In the first ten months of the year, vehicle sales rose 16% from a year earlier to 551,769 units, boosted by robust sales in October, said the spokesman.

However, Toyota still lags behind its major rival, General Motors Corp, despite the fact that its China sales are recovering from the first half.

In the first half of this year, the Japanese auto maker sold 284,000 vehicles in China, about the same number as in the first half of last year, as it had not prepared for a surge in demand for smaller cars in the country.

The Chinese government earlier this year implemented auto industry stimulus measures including tax cuts for low-emission car purchases and subsidies for car purchases by rural residents.

Toyota in September said that it would increase the proportion of smaller cars it will offer in China to boost sales and that it would increase the number of its Chinese dealerships to around 590 by the end of this year from about 500 in August.