Toyota sees bounce with new launches in Europe

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) believes a wealth of new vehicles hitting the market next year will restore its market share in Europe, the head of Toyota Motor Europe said on Thursday.

"Meeting 2007 sales (this year) will be challenging," Tadashi Arashima told a news conference to announce an 80 million euro ($116.1 million) expansion of its research and development centre outside Brussels.

"But we will launch 18 new models by the end of next year," he said, adding the last model launched in Europe was the Auris in March 2007.

Arashima said the company would launch the next generation Avensis within a month at the Paris Motor Show. A new version of its Prius hybrid and a new Lexus will follow.

Toyota believes it will sell 43,000 Prius cars in Europe this year, partly constrained by supply of batteries. Arashima said sales of the new Prius would be around 60-70,000 units, rising to over 90,000 in 2010 when the car would be available for the full year.

General Motors (GM.N) is looking to beat Toyota to the punch with its all-electric Chevy Volt, possibly in the showroom this year. However, Arashima said the petrol hybrid would be the most practicable technology for the next five to 10 years.

EASTERN EUROPE PROMISE

Toyota lowered its sales forecast for Europe to 1.19 million from a previous 1.27 million in 2008 in July and cut its target for 2009 last week to 1.3 million from 1.45 million.

It sold 1.24 million vehicles in the continent in 2007, when it had a market share of 5.6 percent. That seems set to slip this year.

Arashima noted the market in western Europe in general was down, especially in Italy and Spain, with a slowdown also noticeable in Britain.

However, Toyota was set to sell 200,000 vehicles in Russia this year, an increase of some 30 percent from 2007. Ukraine and other eastern European markets were also faring well.

Toyota's European R&D centre will add a new test track, a large workshop and offer an additional 250 jobs in the coming years.

The company said that until the launch of the Yaris in 1999 it made few adaptations to its models for the European market. Its Yaris production plant in Valenciennes, France, opened in 2001, and now some 90 percent of its parts are locally sourced.

The Belgian centre is involved in testing those parts as well as designing variations for European motorists, more of whom prefer to have manual gear changes and diesel engines and to drive at higher speeds. (Editing by Sue Thomas)