Toyota said it expected to sell a record 9.58 million vehicles in 2012 now that its 2011 tsunami-induced problems are behind it and it has rebounded from large recalls.

In 2012 The company has been losing out in China due to the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. TM expects the impact of sales losses on its full-year net profits to be almost $373 million.

One result of high gasoline costs and frugal consumers has been strong demand for Toyota’s Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car. The company has made investments that enable it to manufacture hybrid versions of many of its popular models, including the Camry and several versions of the Lexus. Hybrids are now available from a wide variety of makers, and technology has steadily improved. Nonetheless, hybrids remain a very small fraction of the overall car and truck market due to their relatively high initial costs.

Definition of 'Beta'
A measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. Beta is used in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), a model that calculates the expected return of an asset based on its beta and expected market returns.

Beta is calculated using regression analysis, and you can think of beta as the tendency of a security's returns to respond to swings in the market. A beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market.
Many utilities stocks have a beta of less than 1. Posing less risk.

Toyota Again World's Largest Auto Maker
Toyota Motor Corp. 7203.TO -0.31% reclaimed the title of world's largest auto maker in 2012 from General Motors Co.,