Toyota's China sales rise 34 pct in first half

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp's China unit said its vehicle sales in the first half rose 34 percent from a year earlier to 285,000 units.

Toyota, the third-biggest foreign car brand in China, said last week that it is investing 3.6 billion yuan ($526.8 million) to double the production capacity of one of its plants.

This should boost Toyota's overall capacity in China to 830,000 units by the first half of 2010, it said.

Car sales in China, the world's second-largest auto market, rose 15.24 percent in June from a year earlier to 588,400 units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Thursday.

In 2007, car sales in China grew 21.68 percent to 6.30 million units, following a 30.02 percent rise in 2006 and a 21.4 percent rise in 2005.

($1=6.834 Yuan)

(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Kim Coghill)