Toyota shrugs off steel shortage, sees sales up 8%

Toyota shrugs off steel shortage, sees sales up 8%

Agence France-Presse, Tokyo

Japan's biggest automaker Toyota on Tuesday shrugged off a
steel shortage looming over the industry and said it expected
sales to gain eight percent in 2005 after a 10 percent rise this
year.

Toyota Motor Corp. said its sales under the Toyota and Lexus
brands would rise to 7.18 million vehicles next year compared
with 6.67 million in 2004.

"Although the procurement situation in Japan is now
challenging, I believe that it will not affect our production
plan in the next year," Toyota executive vice president Katsuaki
Watanabe said at a news conference.

"To secure the necessary volume of steel products, we and the
suppliers are now working closely to cut the amount of steel used
in auto assembly while working independently to improve control
of inventory," he added.

China is using up about 25 percent of the world's steel,
spelling dangers for companies that do not have diverse supply
sources.

Nissan Motor cut production for five days between Nov. 29 and
Dec. 8 because it could not get enough steel and its president,
Carlos Ghosn, said Japan's second largest carmaker might be
forced to reduce domestic production in March by another 15,000
vehicles owing to the shortage.

Suzuki Motor Corp has also decided to reduce domestic
production by some 20,000 vehicles from January to March.

To support its ambitious sales target, Toyota is planning to
make 7.28 million vehicles globally in 2005, up eight percent
from this year.

Toyota is projecting overseas sales in 2005 under its own
brands to rise nine percent to 5.38 million vehicles, while
estimating group sales abroad will increase 10 percent to 5.59
million.

"In North America, we aim to sell 2.15 million vehicles in
2005, up 5.0 percent from the current year assuming that vehicle
demand there will continue to expand solidly," executive vice
president Yoshio Ishizaka said.

"In Europe and China, we also aim to increase sales in 2005
from the current year," he added, without providing forecasts for
those markets.

In 2004, Toyota's sales abroad are estimated to have risen 13
percent to 4.91 million vehicles while group sales rose 14
percent to 5.08 million.

"I understand it is hard to maintain the rapid-paced growth we
are now enjoying but we will continue to work hard to sustain the
growth as much as possible," Toyota Motor president Fujio Cho
said.

Toyota in 2006 plans to be the first automaker to roll out a
vehicle free of hazardous materials such as lead, mercury,
cadmium and hexavalent chromium.

The vehicle -- most likely a new Lexus LS -- will first be
released in markets with stricter regulations, such as Europe,
where use of the four heavy metals is expected to be banned by
2008, and Japan.

Toyota, which announced development of the car last year, has
been voluntarily limiting its use of hazardous substances.