Toyota has increased its 2005 European goal for sales of its Prius hybrid model to 20,000 units from the previous target of 15,000 and compared with 8,200 in 2004.
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“This year our target is to more than double to 20,000 hybrid vehicle sales in Europe,” Takis Athanasopoulos, the executive vice president of Toyota Motor Europe, told Reuters in an interview at the Geneva show.
He reiterated the car maker’s goal of boosting European sales to 980,000 units this year from 916,000 in 2004, the report said.
“I think Toyota can grow without having to resort to incentives,” he told Reuters.
Athanasopoulos reportedly said the hot-selling Prius, new Czech-made Aygo small car and [Turkish-built] Corolla Verso should help power sales growth in Europe this year – Toyota’s established network in central and eastern Europe would also help sales at a time when overall western European markets are stagnating.
Toyota still has room to carve out more market share in big western markets, where it is a relatively small player, he told the news agency.
Citing ACEA data, Reuters said Toyota, including its luxury arm Lexus, boosted its western European market share to 5% in 2004 from 4.8%.
Toyota is targeting young buyers for the first time with the Aygo, made at a Czech joint venture with PSA, the news agency noted.
New diesel engines made by its plant in Poland and due to arrive by May will also help it close the gap on rivals in the European market, Athanasopoulos told Reuters, which noted that diesels account for around 36% of Toyota sales in Europe compared with some 45% for the European market.
Athanasopoulos reportedly said Toyota’s European operations were unaffected by the strong euro because it is invoiced in euros by suppliers and its parent company.
He told Reuters the car maker was working hard to offset higher raw material prices with cost savings in an efficiency drive.
