Toyota expects 15% decline

Toyota Romania, local representative of the Japanese group on the Romanian market, forecasts a 15% sales decline this year against last year, due to the situation in the auto industry. "We will definitely see a sales decline this year. At this point, we expect the decline will revolve around 15%," Veronica Mircea, marketing director of Toyota Romania, told ZF. In the first 11 months of last year, Toyota sales on the Romanian market amounted to 9,394 vehicles, a 1% decline on the similar period of 2007, according to statistics released by APIA (the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association). During the same period, Lexus, the premium brand of the Japanese manufacturer, posted an almost 20% sales advance, to 171 units, with the target being of around 180 cars. The company will release 2008 results sometime next week, with the number of vehicles sold expected to be around 10,000, down by 1-3% against 2007. According to data available so far on the market, car sales recorded declines of over 50%, while for 2008 as a whole, sales were down 15%, to around 270,000 cars.