DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> will post its first sales decline in a decade in 2008 with vehicle sales now on track to drop 2 percent below previous year levels, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
The Japanese newspaper did not cite sources for its report. A Toyota representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
NIKKEI (NIKKEI225.)said Toyota's sales were now projected to come in at 8.3 million units in 2008, down from 8.43 million in 2007.
If confirmed by Toyota, the new forecast would mark the second time in about four months that the Japanese automaker has had to lower its global sales forecast.
Toyota had initially targeted sales of 8.84 million vehicles but cut that to 8.5 million in July.
The market took a turn for the worse in September in the United States, Toyota's largest market. Toyota sales dropped 32 percent in the month and it has been forced to offer unprecedented zero-percent financing to U.S. customers in October.
Including Toyota affiliates such as Daihatsu Motor Co <7262.T> and Hino Motors Ltd <7205.T>, Toyota group sales are expected to be near 9.3 million units. That would be below 9.37 million units for 2007.
The newspaper said the year-on-year decline in sales on that basis would be the first since Toyota began compiling statistics in 1999.
(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
