Tue Jul 20, 2004

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. raised its global group-wide sales forecast for this calendar year on Tuesday to 7.39 million vehicles from 7.08 million, helped by stellar sales in overseas markets.

That would represent a 9 percent rise in sales at the group, which includes mini-vehicle maker Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. and truck maker Hino Motors Ltd., from 2003, when it sold 6.78 million vehicles.

Toyota, which unseated Ford Motor Co. as the world's second-biggest car maker last year, has extended its growth in almost every market, including the U.S. and European regions where there is little or no growth.

Its sales in the profitable U.S. market are up about 10 percent in the year to date, exceeding 1 million units, while they grew 15 percent in Europe to a record half a million cars.

Its sales at home, however, fell 1.4 percent in the first half of this year, although the decline was sharper for the overall Japanese market.

For the Toyota brand only, it expects to sell 6.61 million vehicles instead of the 6.33 million forecast in December, also representing a 9 percent increase from 2003.

Shares in Toyota were down 1.62 percent by late afternoon trade, in line with other blue-chip stocks.

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