Toyota scales back 2009 projection

TOKYO, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp. will sell hundreds of thousands fewer vehicles next year than it had projected earlier, the Japanese automaker said Thursday.

Instead of 10.4 million vehicles, Toyota said it now anticipates selling 9.7 million units in 2009, Kyodo News reported.

Toyota had record sales of 9.37 million vehicles in 2007. This year, it cut its sales target from 9.85 million to 9.5 million, the Japanese news service said.

Toyota had aspired to become the world's first automaker to sell more than 10 million vehicles a year, but souring global economy, particularly in the United States, has stalled the company's assault on that mark.