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Toyota plays high stakes on Chinese market

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-07-08 13:55

The new factory of Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co Ltd broke ground on July 5. It's the third time that Toyota has expanded in China this year, the China Business News reported yesterday.

With an investment of 3.6 billion yuan ($525 million), construction of Toyota's new Sichuan plant will be completed in the first half of 2010. Then Sichuan FAW Toyota will increase its annual production capacity to 30,000 cars from its current 13,000.

"Current production capacity (of the Sichuan plant) is unable to satisfy customers' demands, and the expansion scheme has been on the way since last year," said Haruaki Hoshino, the general manager of Sichuan FAW Toyota. "The new factory is still mainly used to produce the Coaster and the Land Cruiser Prado."

"Of the total 30,000 vehicles to be produced annually in the new factory, some 5,000 will be the Coasters and the remaining are the Prados," said Liu Jurong, deputy general manager of Sichuan FAW Toyota.

In May, Tianjin FAW Toyota announced a 1.5 billion yuan investment to extend the annual production capacity in its second plant to 150,000 cars from the current 100,000. Shortly after that, Guangzhou Toyota also announced it would add a second production line in mid-2009, which will boost its capacity to 320,000 cars from 200,000.

As Toyota's pickup truck and sport utility vehicle sales continue to slip in the North American market this year, the world's second largest automaker has lowered its sales target in the United States by 1 million units. However, Toyota's sales remain strong in the emerging Chinese and Russian markets.