Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor Corp intends to spend between $330 million and $440 million to build a research and development center in China as early as in 2010 to better meet local demand and gain market share, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday.
The planned center, to include a full-scale test course, will be set up on the outskirts of Shanghai, according to the newspaper.
Toyota, which has four joint ventures, one each in Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Changchun, now has about a 6% share of the auto market in China, which is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest auto producer.
In late October, China became the third country to produce over 10 million cars in the course of a year, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge. China's auto sales grew 34.2% year on year in the first nine months, reaching 9.66 million units.
Toyota said Tuesday that it sold 65,500 vehicles in China in October, 42% more than last October.
