Q2 sales of 226,650 Toyota and Lexus vehicles brought the half-year total sales to 451,802 units – up 9.4% year on year versus a market growth of 3.0% – while the group’s market share rose to 4.8% for the six-month period.  

Within Toyota, sales of the Toyota Auris range increased by 18.41% to 73,718 units with the strong performance of the Auris Hybrid Touring Sports, which registered its best ever sales month in June with sales reaching 18,739 units. The Toyota Auris range surpasses 5% share in the C-segment.

Sales of the Toyota Corolla increased by 85% in the first half of the year to reach 42,260 units – three quarters of which in Israel, Russia and Turkey.

After the strong start of sales of the new Toyota RAV4 last year, sales remain very strong and reached 51,518 units for the first six months of the year, up 12,5% from the same period last year.

And Toyota Hybrid models reached 75,623 units for the first half of the year, a 17% increase versus last year.

Daniele Schillaci, senior vice-president for sales and marketing, said: ‘Our sales performance during the second quarter of 2014 is very much in line with our plans. We performed much better than the market since the beginning of the year with a particular strong performance in Western Europe. We are confident that the launch of the new generation AYGO this summer will excite customers and consolidate our first-half gains.’

Meanwhile at Lexus, during the first half of 2014, sales increased by 25.4% to 24,586 units, confirming the very positive trend started since the beginning of the year and the good performance of the new IS launched last year.

Alain Uyttenhoven, vice president of Lexus Europe, commented: ‘We are currently in the pre- launch phase of our brand new Lexus NX with its striking design, which marks the entry of Lexus in the mid-size SUV segment. Hundreds of customers have already placed orders ahead of the official start of sales after the summer. We expect Lexus NX to represent one third of our sales in 2015.’