Toyota aims to sell 430,000 hybrid cars worldwide this year

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Toyota Motor Corp aims to sell 430,000 gas-electric hybrid cars worldwide this year, 37 pct more than the 313,000 it sold last year, as it keeps its eye on its target of annual sales of 1.0 mln such vehicles soon after 2010, the company said.
At a news conference marking the launch of Toyota''s Lexus-marque LS600h and LS600hL hybrid sedans, company president Katsuaki Watanabe said: "Our plan to double the number of hybrid models is under way, and I believe our engineers will clear the tough challenge of halving [production] costs."
Toyota rolled out the new hybrid models in the Japanese market today and will begin selling them elsewhere in Asia, in the US and in Europe in stages, starting next month.
The company expects to sell 7,000 LS600hs and LS600hLs worldwide by the end of the year, 4,000 of them in Japan.story continued