Toyota says recalls won't affect sales in S. Korea

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean unit of Toyota Motor Corp. said
Wednesday its local sales will be unaffected by massive safety recalls in the
United States because models sold in the Korean market have different parts.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker, came under pressure after announcing last
week that it will recall 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. and could recall 2
million vehicles in Europe due to potential problems with accelerators, marking
its second massive recalls in just four months.
In a further blow against the Japanese carmaker's reputation, Toyota said it will
halt sales of the Camry sedan, the RAV4 SUV and six other models in the U.S.
market to fix problems related to gas pedals.
"In the case of the Camry and RAV4 sold in the Korean market, there will be no
problem because we used different accelerator parts than those used in the U.S.
and European markets," said Kim Jong-cheol, a senior managing director at Toyota
Korea.
Toyota's Korean unit explained this to the Korean government, Kim said.
Since October last year, Toyota has sold 1,439 units of the Camry and 391 units
of the RAV4 in South Korea.
The broadening recalls come as Toyota is grappling with falling sales in the
Korean market.
Hit by the Japanese currency's ascent and stiff competition among foreign brands
in South Korea, sales of Toyota's Lexus model slipped 16.7 percent to 5,053 units
in 2009, according to industry data.
In December alone, sales of Toyota models, excluding Lexus, in South Korea
dropped 20.5 percent from the month before to 660 units.
(END)

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