Toyota Motor Corp.'s global production rose 3.8 percent in September, putting the company on track to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest automaker. It was the company's 23rd consecutive monthly advance.
Surging oil prices have prompted drivers to favor fuel-efficient cars, including the Prius hybrid, Corolla compact and the midsize Camry, the best-selling model on the U.S. market for eight of the last nine years.
Toyota's total output last month came to 696,594 vehicles, the company reported Tuesday. Overseas production climbed 2.8 percent to 340,945 units, while domestic output rose 4.7 percent to 355,649 vehicles.
Earlier this month, the first hybrid version of the Toyota Camry made outside Japan rolled off the assembly line of its Kentucky plant, positioning the Japanese automaker to take an even larger share of the gasoline-electric vehicle market in the United States.
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