Toyota sees 1-2 pct sales rise in U.S. in '08

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T)(TM.N) trimmed its U.S. sales forecast for 2008 on Thursday.

Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said on a conference call that the Japanese automaker now expects its U.S. sales to grow 1 percent to 2 percent this year, down from its earlier forecast of 3 percent.

The reduced sales outlook comes as Toyota overtook Ford Motor Co (F.N) as the No. 2 automaker in the U.S. market in 2007, selling 2.62 million vehicles last year.

Toyota, whose sales rose 2.7 percent in 2007, also said it sees flat hybrid vehicle sales in 2008 after substantial growth in 2007.

Toyota sold 277,750 hybrid vehicles last year, up 44 percent from 2006.

Toyota's Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car is the industry's best-selling hybrid vehicle.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)