Toyota has raised its parent-only global production target for 2009 to 5.95 million units, up 150,000 units from its initial forecast in May amid signs of recovery in auto sales due to worldwide stimulus measures, sources said recently in Nagoya.

The automaker has received robust orders for its new Prius and Lexus hybrids thanks to recent government tax breaks and subsidies introduced in Japan for fuel-efficient cars.

In addition to reduction in inventories due to heavy production cuts, auto demand has also been picking up elsewhere due to other support measures worldwide, including the Cash for Clunkers incentive program introduced in America and similar programs in Europe.

Toyota has already notified its key auto parts suppliers of the revised target in view of the number of car orders it has received recently, the sources said. In 2008, Toyota produced 8,21 million units globally.

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2,800 Nissan employees started their first day of work on August 19 at the company’s new headquarters in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai district.

It’s been 41 years since Nissan was last headquartered in Yokohama, the place of its birth. The company plans to sell the building that housed its previous headquarters in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The company also relocated its showroom to the new HQ.

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Auto sales in India rose 24.7 percent in July from the year before to 185,266 vehicles as stimulus measures, rural demand lower interest rates gave sales a surprise boost, figured released recently in Mumbai showed.
Car sales rose 30.9 percent to 115,067 units, while commercial vehicle sales reversed their long slide, rising 9 percent to 37,624 vehicles. Sales of passenger utility vehicles and vans rose 23.4 percent to 32,575.

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Japan’s exports of used construction machinery including truck cranes, lifters, bulldozers, shovel loaders, excavators and tractors totaled 79,921 units in 2008, down 9.3 percent from previous year’s export of 88,156 units.

Used construction machinery exports in the first two months of 2009 totaled 7,252 units. Hong Kong remains the No. 1 destination for Japan’s export of used construction machinery. However, most of these units are re-exported to mainland China.

Japan’s 20 major destinations for export of used constriction machinery in 2008:

• Hong Kong: 20,378
• Vietnam: 10,065
• Thailand: 6,029
• Malaysia: 4,312
• UAE: 3,430
• Egypt: 3,288
• Singapore: 3,273
• Taiwan: 2,959
• Russia: 2,948
• Philippines: 2,562
• America: 1,960
• Italy: 1,607
• Australia: 1,469
• Sri Lanka: 1,340
• UK: 1,194
• Netherlands: 1,069
• Cambodia: 1,066
• China: 1,040
• Indonesia: 1,009
• Canada: 955

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Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has closed its Venezuelan car assembly plant, blaming labor conflicts that slowed production. Mitsubishi says operations in the eastern city of Barcelona have been hampered by “indiscipline”, anarchy and violence.” The company’s workers staged several strikes over the last year.

One of the conflicts turned violent in January, when clashes between police and workers protesting outside the plant left two people dead.

During another conflict, workers seized control of the plant for 120 days, In a statement, Mitsubishi said it had reached assemble at least 60 cars a day, but they only managed to produce 33 cars a day. The plant employed about 1,400 workers.

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