Toyota expects 2020 car sales to stay at record highs

Toyota Motor Corp expects its worldwide vehicle sales to stay at record high levels in 2020, even as demand shows signs of a downturn in China and the United States, the world’s top auto markets.

The Japanese automaker stated it prepared to sell a record 10.77 million vehicles in 2020, including cars sold under the Toyota, Lexus and Daihatsu brands along with Hino trucks, a touch higher than its strategies to sell 10.72 million units for the year ending December.

Competition to sell more vehicles is tight between the world’s biggest automakers as they try to increase sales to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs at a time when they are spending heavily to develop next-generation technologies consisting of self-driving vehicles and electric cars.

Germany’s Volkswagen has been the top-selling automaker for the last five years, delivering 10.83 million vehicles such as its MAN and Scania heavy trucks in 2018.