Crisis-hit car maker Toyota today said global sales surged 26.3% year-on-year in March, despite millions of safety recalls worldwide.
The Toyota group, which includes brands Daihatsu and Hino trucks, said it sold 876,126 vehicles in March, up from 693,759 a year earlier, a spokesman said.
Toyota said global production jumped 82.2% to 860,534 units last month compared to a year ago, when the industry was in the grip of the global economic crisis.
The beleaguered car maker has recalled around ten million vehicles worldwide in recent months due to a series of accelerator and brake defects.
In the latest blow, it was downgraded by ratings agency Moody's over the impact of mass recalls on the company's future profitability.
Toyota recently widened a recall of two sports utility vehicles - the Lexus GX 460 and some models of the Land Cruiser Prado - to 34,000 units worldwide over stability problems.
Last week the company agreed to pay a $16.4m fine, the largest for a car maker in the US, for hiding for at least four months accelerator pedal defects blamed in more than 50 US deaths.
