Japanese car giant Toyota has targeted sales of over ten million vehicles this year.

The world's largest car manufacturer sold 7.615 million units in the first nine months of 2014 and plans to achieve 10.2 million this year as a whole, maintaining its lead over rivals Volkswagen and General Motors (GM).

James Chao, a Shanghai-based director at IHS Automotive, told Bloomberg the competition in the car market is a "fantastic race".

"You see the US coming back quite strongly for Toyota, and then you see the great engine of growth for Volkswagen being China, which is continuing to perform," he added.

Toyota became the world's largest car manufacturer in 2008, when it took the crown from US firm GM.

Although GM moved back into the lead in 2011 after the Toyota's sales were affected by the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, Toyota regained its title in 2012.