BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp and its two Chinese joint ventures sold about 74,800 vehicles in China in July, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said on Friday.
That followed a 7.6 percent year-on-year fall in June and a 2.7 percent increase in May.
Toyota sales have been weak in China chiefly because it is still ramping up production of the newly redesigned Corolla model, which went on sale here recently, company officials said.
In the first seven months of the year, Japan's biggest automaker by sales volumr sold about 540,700 vehicles, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota this year aims to sell more than 1.1 million vehicles in China. If accomplished, this would see the carmaker surpass annual sales of 1 million vehicles in China for the first time, a target it originally aimed for in 2010.
Takanori Yokoi, Beijing-based Toyota spokesman, said Toyota is still on track to achieve the goal. "We have no plans to review or alter our sales objectives for the year," he said.
Last year, Toyota sold 917,500 vehicles in China.
Toyota operates joint ventures in China with China FAW Group Corp and Guangzhou Automobile Group . (Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Fayen Wong)