SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (>> Toyota Motor Corp) and its local joint ventures sold about 51,900 automobiles in China in February, up 43.1 percent from a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said on Monday.

That follows an 18.1 percent year-on-year increase in January and a 19.4 percent rise in December, reflecting a gradual recovery in sales which took a heavy beating from a surge anti-Japan sentiment following a flare-up in a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo in late 2012.

The company's sales in the first two months of the year came to about 137,500 cars, up 26.4 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Toyota, which operates car ventures in China with FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co (>> Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd)<601238.SS> , aims to sell 1.1 million cars in the country this year, an increase of 19.9 percent from a year earlier.

(Reporting By Kazunori Takada; Editing by John Ruwitch)

Stocks treated in this article : Toyota Motor Corp, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd