Toyota, Honda Expect Record U.S. Sales Next Year

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Toyota, Honda Expect Record U.S. Sales Next Year

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., the world's two largest carmakers by market value, expect their 2006 U.S. sales to rise as their fuel-efficient designs take customers from U.S.-based manufacturers.

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The two companies, which get as much as 70 percent of operating profits in the U.S., are building more factories there and adding models to win sales from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit. Toyota's 2006 global sales may rise 9 percent to 8.85 million, a step closer in surpassing GM as the world's largest automaker by that measure.

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Toyota was the first Japanese company to earn more than 1 trillion yen in annual profit, with last year's net income at 1.17 trillion yen ($10 billion). The company may top last year's earnings for another record result in the 12 months ending March 2006, according to a Nov. 4 forecast by Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki, who didn't give a figure.

``Toyota makes sure it does well in the markets where it wants to be strong in'' even though it ``moves slowly like a huge steam roller,'' said Graeme Maxton, Hong Kong-based director of the Economist Intelligence Unit.

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