Toyota Motor Corp is adding at least 20 new models in China, to more than double car deliveries by 2015 from 2011 levels, partly by selling more hybrids and improving customer service.

The automaker projects annual China sales of 1.8 million units in three years, or 15 percent of its worldwide deliveries, Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi said yesterday at an auto forum in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province. The company, Asia's biggest carmaker, sold 883,000 vehicles in China last year.

Toyota outsold all automakers globally in the first half and leads sales in Japan and the US, while trailing rivals, including General Motors Co and Nissan Motor Co, in China, where rising incomes have fueled auto market growth. The addition of new models and vehicles targeted at the elderly and handicapped people will help the Japan-based carmaker narrow the gap, Niimi said.

"There are people who think Toyota has fallen behind" in China, Niimi said. "We want to change the impression from a laggard to a leader in China."

Toyota's China sales target trails that of Nissan, which plans to introduce about 30 models and to double deliveries to more than 2.3 million units by 2015. Nissan sold 1.25 million cars in the country last year, 42 percent more than its larger Japanese rival.

Toyota plans to sell at least 1 million units in China this year, representing 12 percent of its global sales, Niimi said. Sales rose 13 percent to 596,100 in China during the first eight months of this year, the company said.