A top executive of Toyota’s US operation expects the brand to add market share there this year even though some analysts have predicted a near-term loss in the size of the firm’s slice of the pie.
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Speaking to Reuters while attending a US dealer convention, Toyota executive vice president and chief operating officer Jim Press said: “I don’t know what [the analysts’] forecasts are based on but I do know that the market is going to have to grow pretty fast to keep up with our growth.”
Referring to Toyota’s 2004 US market share he added: “I’m not sure where it will wind up but I do know we’ll meet our sales targets, which would bring more share based on anticipated industry forecasts.”
Press reportedly said Toyota sees US industry-wide vehicle sales reaching about 17 million units this year, in line with other forecasts, and added that such a level would definitely boost his company’s US share.
“It would go up, it wouldn’t go down. It’s not going to go down,” he told Reuters, which noted that Toyota’s slice of the US market rose 0.8% to 11.2% in 2003.
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By GlobalDataPress reportedly said Toyota, whose global sales apparently outstripped Ford in 2003, doesn’t really pay much attention to market share but has set a goal of taking 15% of the world car market sometime this decade, from about 11% now.
That could make Toyota the biggest carmaker of all, displacing General Motors, Reuters said.
The news agency noted that population growth is expected to boost US car and light truck sales by four million units between now and 2010.
