Toyota says April China auto sales up 12.4%

Visitors look at a Toyota Highlander during the 15th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, known as Auto Shanghai 2013, in Shanghai, China, April 29, 2013. [Photo / dfic.cn]

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and its two local joint-venture partners sold about 85,800 automobiles in China in April, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, the automaker said on Wednesday.

That followed a 19 percent year-on-year rise in March and a 43.1 percent rise in February.

In the first four months of the year, Japan's biggest automaker sold 313,800 vehicles, up 20.2 percent from a year earlier.

Toyota this year aims to sell more than 1.1 million vehicles in China. If accomplished, the company would meet the objective to sell 1 million vehicles a year in China, which it had originally targeted for 2010.

Toyota's executive vice president Yasumori Ihara said in Beijing last month that over the longer-term the Japanese automaker aims to double sales in China to about 2 million vehicles a year but gave no time frame for the objective.

Last year, Toyota sold 917,500 vehicles in China.

Toyota operates joint ventures in China with China FAW Group Corp and Guangzhou Automobile Group.

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