Toyota global sales hit record high in August, along with output

Toyota Motor Corp.’s global sales rose 9% in August from a year earlier to a record 923,180 vehicles thanks to an improvement in supply conditions and an increase in demand.

Global production rose 4% to a record 924,509 vehicles, including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., the Japanese carmaker said Thursday. Sales of Toyota and Lexus brand cars grew more than 3% in Europe, mostly in Italy, Spain and England. But sales dropped 4% in Asia, including a 6% decline in China, where the company and other legacy carmakers like Volkswagen AG are struggling to compete with Chinese electric-vehicle powerhouses, such as BYD Co.

Toyota’s sales in Japan grew 45% from a year earlier in August, and 63% in South Korea.

The world’s best-selling carmaker has told suppliers that it plans to make 150,000 EVs this year, 190,000 in 2024 and 600,000 in 2025, according to a Nikkei report last week.

Toyota sold 11,880 battery EVs in August, bringing its total this year to 65,467. That’s more than double the 24,000 it sold in 2022, but still a far cry from the 1.5 million that Chief Executive Officer Koji Sato promised it would sell every year by 2026. The company didn’t release August EV production figures Thursday.

Earlier in September, Toyota invited journalists on a tour of its factories to showcase the technology it is developing to mass produce BEVs. With a similar workshop in June, the company continues a publicity campaign to convince stakeholders that it has the means and conviction to catch up and compete with global EV frontrunners like China’s BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc.

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