Toyota Sees Upturn After Disastrous 2011

Toyota Motor Corp. expects its sales to surge by a fifth next year as production returns to normal and new models and emerging markets drive growth after a year scarred by disasters in Japan and Thailand.

But highlighting the scale of the problems it has faced this year, Toyota was effectively knocked off its perch as the world’s biggest auto company by sales in 2011, as it said it expects its group global sales to fall 6% in calendar 2011 to 7.90 million vehicles.

The auto maker’s sales will likely trail U.S.-based General Motors Co. and Germany’s Volkswagen AG this …