Toyota’s U.S. Auto Outlook Improves on Consumer Confidence

Toyota Motor Corp., after reporting slower growth in February, is boosting its U.S. auto market outlook on improving consumer confidence, a better economy and demand for Camry sedans and Prius hybrids.

Toyota expects drivers to buy 15.3 million new cars and light trucks this year, about 5.5 percent more than in 2012, Bob Carter, senior vice president for the company’s U.S. sales unit, said yesterday in New York. The world’s largest carmaker plans to sell more than 2.2 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles in the U.S., up 50,000 units from its January estimate.