Shanghai, April 27 (Gasgoo.com) Toyota Motor Corp. recently said that it plans to start production at a new plant in northeastern China as early as 2011, Bloomberg reported, citing an executive of the Japanese carmaker. This new facility will raise Toyota's production capacity in China.
The new plant, located in Changchun, Jilin province, will start production in late 2011 or early 2012 and have a yearly production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, Masahiro Kato, president of Toyota's China business, told the press at the Beijing Auto Show.
The automaker is adding capacity in the world's largest car market, after sales growth lagged behind rivals last year (when GM China sales grew 67% to 1.83 million vehicles). Toyota aims to sell more than 800,000 vehicles in China this year, up from 709,000 units (up 21%) in 2009.
"China has become a big market for Toyota and for all automakers," said a Tokyo-based researcher. "It's important for Toyota to have more capacity in a market that will grow." Toyota currently has total production capacity of about 803,000 units in China.
The Changchun plant will be operated with Chinese partner FAW Group, the RAV4 SUV likely to be the first model for production. Toyota makes cars with FAW Group (at Changchun, Tianjin and Chengdu plants) and Guangzhou Auto.
Toyota also plans to increase capacity at a JV plant with FAW in Chengdu to 30,000 units from 13,000 by June. The plant builds the Coaster and Land Cruiser Prado models.
The company will set up six quality control centers in China to enhance quality management after the recent massive global recalls of Toyota cars including 75,552 locally made RAV4 SUVs in China.
