Toyota Motor Corp. expects to report industry-wide sales in the United States for the month of March that will be, at best, flat, and at worst, weaker than those returned in February.

In a news conference Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said, "Annualized sales in January and February were a little above 9 million, and we're hearing that March will be about the same if not worse than February."

Watanabe offered no predictions about when the global automotive market would hit bottom and turn, but did add that he encouraged governments around the world to offer economic incentives that would help to stimulate demand.

No factory holidays are planned at Toyota facilities in Japan from May forward and the company continues to hope for a daily output figure of 10,000 units and above.

In January and March, Toyota idled factories for days and sometimes weeks in an effort to rein in its inflated inventory. Consequently, production is expected to remain low through the April to June quarter.

These figures notwithstanding, Toyota remains the world's largest automaker after toppling General Motors from a 77-year run in that position in January 2009 when the 2008 sales figures were totaled.

Last year General Motors sold 8.36 million units to Toyota's 8.97 million, a discrepancy of 616,000 vehicles. The figures put GM's sales for the year down 10.8 percent.