Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s No. 1 automaker, said Tuesday that it would temporarily stop building and selling eight models, including the popular Camry and Corolla sedans, in the North American market, The New York Times reported. Toyota said it would immediately stop selling the Camry, Corolla and Avalon sedans, Matrix wagon, RAV4 crossover, Tundra pickup and Highlander and Sequoia sport utility vehicles.

The unusual move follows two recalls of millions of vehicles in the last two months for a problem that the company has described as a “rare” condition in which the gas pedal can stick and cause a vehicle to speed up unexpectedly.

“This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized,” Robert Carter, a Toyota group vice president, said in a statement. “We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.”

Annual combined sales of the recalled and suspended models total 1 million in North America, or more than half of Toyota’s annual sales here last year, according to Advanced Research’s Endo. Toyota sells more than 2,700 units of these models a day, or 19,000 cars a week.

Toyota of Des Moines, the top-selling Toyota dealership in the state, could not be immediately reached for comment.

On its Web site, Toyota said the years and models affected in the sales suspension are the 2009-2010 RAV4 crossover, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra, and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

Toyota will stop building these models the week of Feb. 1. All of the vehicles are assembled in the United States or Canada; the U.S. plants are in Indiana, Kentucky and Texas.