Toyota is on track to meet its target of 9.34 million vehicle sales this year despite fears of plant closures, flagging sales in the Japanese domestic market and lost production from this past week's earthquake. The Japanese juggernaut has already eclipsed closest rival GM in global sales for the first half of the year and is still seeing sales in key U.S. markets where most American manufacturers are actually losing sales.

The U.S. is not the only region where Toyota is experiencing growth. In fact, Toyota is enjoying rising demand in most markets around the globe. Despite this, President Katsuaki Watanabe has revealed that the current sales target of 9.34 million vehicles won't be revised up, down or any which way.

Toyota is yet to topple GM in actual vehicle production but this too is expected to go Toyota's way by the end of the year. However, GM isn't out of the race yet. Its sales for the second quarter were better than Toyota's, and it's yet to reveal any forecast for this year's tally. We know the title of "World's Biggest Automaker" is just so many words strung together, but that hasn't stopped us from starting up the betting pool in anticipation of this year's final numbers.

[Source: Detroit News]