Toyota Motor Corp. should hit its target of 5-percent U.S. sales growth this year despite a recent slowdown and building concerns about the knock-on effect of the subprime mortgage crisis, the automaker's chief financial officer said on Monday.

Sales were down in August but that was also compared to a very good month the year before, Toyota Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mitsuo Kinoshita said.

We were at 5-percent growth on a year-to-date basis in August, and I believe we can meet our full-year sales target if we work at it, he said.

Kinoshita, who was speaking to financial analysts and reporters at an event hosted by Toyota, also said the Japanese automaker was considering investment in more production capacity in China to keep pace with expected sales gains in that market.

We are not yet in a position to say anything, but we would like to increase our production capacity in China and are currently studying that, Kinoshita said in response to a question.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki)

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