Guangzhou Toyota to open second plant next year

Shanghai, June 17 (Gasgoo.com) Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co. will more than double its capacity by launching production at a second plant next year, reported Beijing Morning Post today.

Guangzhou Toyota, a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp. and China's Guangzhou Automobile Group, is planning to build a new production facility with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. The move will increase the joint venture's overall annual capacity to over 400,000 units.

The report said that Guangzhou Toyota plans to sell 210,000 vehicles in China this year, with 175,000 Camry vehicles and 35,000 units of Yaris, a compact sedan which has gone on sale last week. As production of Yaris was just started, capacity shortage may emerge in the second half of this year for the automaker.

The new facility will have five workshops. With an investment of 860 million yuan ($124,637,681), the punching workshop covers 26,078 square meters and includes four production lines. The welding workshop costs 500 million yuan and covers 3,860 square meters with 13 production lines. The assembling workshop covers 85,678 square meters with an investment of 800 million yuan.

Capacity shortage is the most urgent problem facing Toyota in China. In 2007, Toyota Motor sold 499,000 vehicles in China, up 62.1% year-on-year and taking 5% market share. Toyota aims a sales of 499,000 vehicles this year, up 40% from last year, but currently it has a gap of 60,000 units in its production capacity. The second plant of Guangzhou Toyota is the fist step for Toyota to expand its overall capacity.