Toyota chairman Horoshi Okuda said Monday that Toyota is determined to boost growth around the world, including by adding another production plant in North America in the next few years. He did not give details.

Toyota now has four car-assembly facilities operating in North America, and a new plant in Texas is set to begin operation in 2006. Toyota also has a car plant in Mexico scheduled to begin production in December.

The automaker said its U.S. market share has reached a record 12.1 percent helped by sales of the Prius hybrid, Lexus RX330 luxury car, and Scion models that target younger buyers.

In its earnings report, Toyota said group net profit totaled 297.4 billion yen ($2.8 billion) for the July-September quarter, down 1 percent from 301.9 billion yen a year ago. Sales surged nearly 10 percent to 4.5 trillion yen ($42.5 billion) for the quarter from 4.1 trillion yen a year ago.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, Toyota recorded group net profit of 584 billion yen ($5.5 billion), up 11.4 percent from 524.5 billion yen a year ago. Sales climbed 9.7 percent to 9.0 trillion yen ($85 billion) from 8.2 trillion yen a year ago.

But Okuda said the company must guard against complacency.

"When there is such quick growth in profit and sales, there is an arrogant tendency inside the company to take success for granted," he told reporters and analysts at a Tokyo hotel.

Toyota is targeting 8.5 million annual vehicle sales, including its Japanese small-car and truck affiliates, by 2006, Okuda said.

During the April-September period, Toyota sold 3.56 million vehicles around the world, up by 397,000, or 12 percent, from a year ago.

The performance was solid enough to counter the negative effects of a strong yen, which pushes down the value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters like Toyota. The U.S. dollar cost about 110 yen for the first half, compared to about 118 yen a year ago.

The unfavorable exchange rate cost Toyota, based in Toyoda city, 120 billion yen ($1.1 billion) during the six-month period, while cost-cutting efforts added 330 billion yen ($3.1 billion) to its income.

At a time when rivals are struggling to boost sales at home, Toyota sold more cars during the first half in all key regions, including Japan, North America and Europe. Toyota also increased car sales in other Asian locations and Africa.

Toyota said it expects to sell 7.22 million vehicles for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, up 510,000 vehicles from the previous year. Toyota does not give consolidated net income or sales forecasts.

Okuda said Toyota was on track to reach its North American sales target of 2 million vehicles this year.

In Europe, the Corolla and Yaris sedans continued to do well, while the Lexus RX330 and RAV4 sport-utility vehicle also added to sales. First half sales in North America increased 12 percent to 1.12 million vehicles, and sales in Europe edged up 8 percent to 476,000 vehicles.

Even in Japan, where others are struggling, Toyota sold 2 percent more cars at 1.1 million vehicles.

For the last several years, Toyota has maintained a solid market share in Japan of more than 40 percent and is hoping to reach 45 percent, Okuda said.

Among plans to boost sales in Japan, Toyota will introduce the Lexus luxury brand next year and has started to revamp its existing dealer network to appeal to youngsters and women.

"Our ongoing efforts to introduce products that meet individual customer needs, as well as the optimization of our production organization worldwide, allowed us to grow and improve efficiency in the first half," Toyota executive vice president Ryuji Araki said.