Honda, Toyota Plan to Boost Sales Next Year Despite Global Downturn

AP Reported from Tokyo today that despite a lingering global economic downturn, Japanese automakers Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. [NYSE:TM - news] on Wednesday predicted robust sales next year both at home and abroad.

Tokyo-based Honda plans to sell 2.81 million cars worldwide in 2002, up 6 percent from this year, while Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. projects global sales of 5.3 million, up by 1 percent.

Honda's global car sales for this year are projected at 2.67 million, up 5 percent from a year ago. Toyota, Japan's top automaker, is expecting car sales for this year to total 5.23 million worldwide, up 2 percent from last year.

Both Honda and Toyota remain upbeat although this nation's slowdown is likely to continue in the coming year. Auto sales in the United States, an important market for both Honda and Toyota, have held up lately but could drop in coming months.

For 2002, Honda plans to sell 1.22 million vehicles in North America, while projecting an overall sales drop of about 10 percent for the industry.

Honda chief executive Hiroyuki Yoshino said he will be looking toward Asia as a key growth market and boosting production not only of cars but also engines and transmissions to become more cost competitive.

Honda's production capacity in China will increase from 50,000 vehicles now to 120,000 vehicles by March 2003, he told reporters.

Honda is already producing the Accord passenger car in China but will begin making the Odyssey minivan there next spring. Other models will likely be added as Honda boosts production by investing at least 10 billion yen ($78 million) in China, Yoshino said.

``There's no mistake the Asian market is going to grow,'' he said. ``China is one market that hasn't been hurt by the world economic slowdown.''

Honda, whose Japan sales have surged this year by 12 percent on hit models such as the Fit subcompact and Stream minivan, hopes to sell more cars here next year, targeting 920,000 vehicles, up 7 percent from the expected 860,000 in 2001.

Answering a growing concern here as the jobless rate climbs steadily, Yoshino promised Honda won't be cutting jobs in Japan. Honda will produce 1.3 million cars in Japan, up nearly 3 percent from 1.276 million expected for this year. Worldwide, Honda will produce 2.85 million vehicles next year, up 8 percent from this year's total projected at 2.64 million.

Toyota said it plans to sell 1.75 million cars in Japan in 2002, up 2 percent from 1.72 million projected for this year. It expects overseas sales to rise 1 percent to 3.55 million vehicles next year, compared with 3.51 million vehicles for 2001