2010 was as rough a year as Toyota has experienced in many-a-decade, but the Japanese automaker reportedly senses a rebound in 2011. The Detroit News reports that team Toyota predicts that in 2011 it will outpace industry growth due in part to 10 revamped models across its Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands.
And Toyota isn’t just optimistic about its prospects in the year ahead; the automaker feels sales will jump to 12.5 million units on an annualized basis, up a million units from 2010. Many industry analysts polled by The Detroit News seem to agree with that sentiment as well, with figures ranging from 12.5 to over 13 million cars and trucks sold in 2011. Further into the future, Toyota reportedly sees sales hitting 15 million units by 2015.
After the year Toyota had, we are a little surprised that the Japanese automaker is this bullish on 2011. But then again, Toyota struggled as much with an aging lineup as it did with millions of recalls. Ten new models can go a long way toward repopulating dealers with new customers, especially if U.S. car buyers can forget about 2010 as fast as Toyota hopes they do.
