Brisk sales of SUVs, the premium Lexus brand and small cars helped Toyota Motor Corp.'s European car sales rise 17 percent last month to 110,306 units, its best-ever September.
That brought sales in the first three quarters to 870,079 units, a rise of 12 percent, the automaker said in a statement today.
Its market share in Europe advanced to 5.8 percent in the first nine months from 5.3 percent in the year-earlier period. Its September share reached 6.4 percent.
Toyota aims to sell 1.1 million units in Europe this year, including 48,000 Lexus vehicles.
Lexus brand nine-month sales nearly doubled to 39,906 units as it took on European premium brands on their home turf. Hybrid versions made up nearly 27 percent of Lexus sales, while diesels powered 23 percent of the new Lexus cars sold.
It cited strong September sales of the Toyota Yaris small car -- up 18 percent year on year; the RAV4 SUV -- up 31 percent; and new Aygo minicar, whose volume surpassed 10,000 units.
Sales of the hybrid Prius hit a monthly record 2,895 units.
Britain remained Toyota's biggest market in Europe through September, followed by Germany, Italy and France.
Russia, Toyota's fifth-largest European market, saw the best growth rate, with sales up 53 percent to 73,268 units.
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