Toyota Sets New Sales Record: European First Half Sales Rise 15 Per Cent

Toyota’s January-June Sales Exceed 500,000 Units for the First Time

Toyota sold an all-time record of 502,016 units in the period from January to June 2004, an increase of 15 per cent over the first half of 2003. This marks the first time Toyota’s six-month sales have exceeded the 500,000-unit mark in Europe. Toyota’s European market share for the first half reached 5.1 per cent, up from 4.7 per cent last year. Toyota continued to grow in the five biggest European markets and sales of its core models – all built in Europe – increased further.

“Our first half results represent an important milestone for Toyota in Europe: our best-ever six-month results. Sales of our Yaris, Corolla, Corolla Verso and Avensis models have continued to climb, along with customers’ confidence in the superior quality of Toyota’s products. For the third year in a row, Toyota achieved first place in Germany’s J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey. We hope to beat our 2004 target of 860,000 vehicles,” said Thierry Dombreval, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Marketing Europe.

Total sales of the Toyota Yaris (141,117 units) rose 9.1 per cent in the January-June period, compared to the same period the previous year. Corolla sales rose 9.5 per cent to 103,976 units. The Toyota Avensis was very successful as well with sales of 83,911 units (+71.7 per cent). Meanwhile, the new Corolla Verso achieved an absolute monthly record with sales of 26,294 units in the month of June. And sales of the hybrid Toyota Prius in the first half reached 3,444 units (+874 per cent). Lexus sales for the first half increased 31.6 per cent to 13,378 units, compared to the same period last year.

For the first six months, Italy was Toyota’s largest national market in Europe, with 75,118 units sold (+4.8 per cent), followed by the UK (74,179 units; +6 per cent), Germany (63,183 units; +18.6 per cent) and France (41,126 units; +12.6 per cent). Toyota sales in Spain, the fifth biggest Toyota market in Europe, grew by a spectacular 40.7 per cent to 29,447 units.

* Toyota’s European sales figures include all passenger and commercial vehicles in all 25 EU Member states and: Monaco, Andorra, Faro Islands, Greenland, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Russian Federation, Belarus, Iceland, Gibraltar, NATO UK, Portugal Exports, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, NATO Germany, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia.

** Market share figures include all passenger and commercial vehicles in 16 Western European countries, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

ENDS