Toyota Motor anticipates to boost its European sales by 5 percent this year to 975,000 automobiles and preserve its market share of around 5 percent, buoyed by the appeal of hybrids, its local head stated on Monday.
Speaking ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, Johan van Zyl stated sales of hybrid cars in Europe increased 40 percent in 2016 and compromised 32 percent of all sales in the area. For Toyota, Europe counts 56 nations, consisting of Israel, Russia and Turkey.
“We are on our way of accomplishing our target of having 50 percent of our mix in hybrids by 2020,” he informed reporters.
The executive stated the outlook for Europe was clouded by upcoming elections, Britain’s pending departure from the European Union and relentless troubles in the Russian and Turkish markets.
He anticipates industry-wide sales in Europe to increase 1 percent this year. He stated any boost in the western part of the area would likely be soaked up by some weakness in Britain, and anticipates some healing in Russia.
Van Zyl stated PSA’s statement on Monday that it would buy Opel from General Motors, developing Europe’s 2nd greatest carmaker after Volkswagen, would not impact its own strategy.
“We have no objective at the moment to modify any of our strategies with regards to how we’re going to contend in the industry, we have got a really clear technique,” he stated, including that Toyota would keep concentrating on the A, B and C sectors, keeping hybrids as its differentiator.
“We are not a volume chaser, we wish to develop a sustainable, growing company in Europe,” he included.
Van Zyl stated Toyota was fully dedicated to its operations in the UK regardless of how the settlements around Brexit turn out, however added that the automaker was seeking to make business more efficient.
