Gasgoo.com (Shanghai July 29) - Although recent government policies are focusing on pure electric vehicles and many hybrid models have yet to be included in many lists of vehicles eligible for subsidies, Toyota is still firmly committed to bring its hybrid technology to China. Toyota, which has already sold over 6.6 million hybrids worldwide, has its sights set on setting up battery and general assembly operations in China, in order to decrease final retail prices for its vehicles.
At a recent promotional event for hybrid engine technology, Soichiro Matsudaira, Toyota's deputy head of PEVE, announced that it will begin using complete Chinese battery production by 2016, the Beijing Business Today reported today. Representatives from the Toyota City's factory, the PEVE battery factory and Tokyo-based Toyota dealerships participated in the event.
Back in the end of 2013, the Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing China Company began operating in Changshu, Jiangsu. The $689 million site is the largest Toyota research and development center outside of Japan. The site's establishment is a sign that Toyota is committed to localization of the entire production operation for its hybrid vehicles, which include battery manufacturing, transmission manufacturing and inverter manufacturing.
TMEC President Soichiro Okudaira remarked that Toyota will put all of its effort into achieving full Chinese localization of its hybrid technology. Mr. Okudaira added that the fully domestically assembled versions of the FAW Toyota Corolla and Guangqi Toyota Levin will make their market debuts next year.
Mr. Matsudaira further revealed that while the first batch of hybrid Corolla and Levin vehicles have their batteries made in Japan, by next year all of the models' key parts will be produced domestically.
The rising price of fuel, worsening pollution and the growing number of cars on Chinese roads have forced many in the country to begin pushing for the development, sales and use of environmentally friendly new energy vehicles. However, this attention has mainly been focused on pure electric vehicles, with hybrid vehicles regarded as merely 'transitional'.
Toyota very clearly does not agree with this assessment. In their eyes, without the proper infrastructure and technological understanding, pure electric vehicles aren't a practical choice for widespread use. By comparison, hybrid vehicle technology and products are already very mature and suitable for an environment where charging infrastructure is not widespread.
In fact, statistics show that over half of the automobiles sold currently in Japan are hybrids. Mr. Suzuki, the owner of the Tokyo Toyota Mita dealership comments that "[current sales] figures and those from when hybrids first came to the market are worlds apart." When the Prius was first released, it only accounted for three percent to six percent of the dealership's total sales. However, with increased awareness, better marketing and government support has helped increase its sales over time.
Lowering production costs and maturing technology further helped Toyota benefit from the technology. At the moment hybrids remains the only mass produced new energy vehicle that offers comparable performance in technology, drivability, maintenance and related aspects, with traditional fuel-powered automobiles.
Mr. Suzuki is confident that this technology will also prosper in China and that Chinese consumers will be convinced to make the jump to hybrids. He commented: "In the future, I hope that hybrid vehicles will also become widespread in China."
