Toyota China unlikely to achieve 2008 sales target

Toyota Motor Corp said in a statement on 11 Jul. that it sold 285,000 cars in mainland China in the first six months, a growth of 34% year-on-year. Growth in Toyota's sales was much higher than of the industry as a whole.

Toyota's target for the whole of 2008 is 700,000 units or an increase of 43% over the preceding year. However, actual sales in 2008 are likely to fall short of the target. Last year, Toyota set the goal of selling 1 million cars in China in 2010.

Toyota Motor Corp. has operating joint ventures with First Auto Works (FAW) in Tianjin, Chengdu and Changchun and with Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co. Ltd in Guangzhou. Toyota plans to relocate its Chengdu facilities and expand the capacity by over 130%, from 13,000 to 30,000 units, at a cost of about RMB 3.6 billion. Coaster and Prado brands will be manufactured in the new facility being set up.

Toyota will also add another assembly line in its Guangzhou unit, where capacity will expand from 200,000 to 320,000 units. The total investment will be RMB 2.62 billion. Currently, the Guangzhou plant mainly manufactures Vios and Camry models.