Toyota Motor to invest RMB 1.5 bln to boost China output

Sep. 15, 2008 (China Knowledge) - Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest automaker, announced that it plans to invest RMB 1.5 billion to expand its output of the second plant of Tianjin Faw Toyota Motor Co. Ltd and boost sales in Chinese market.

The Japanese auto maker expects to raise the production capacity of the new plant to 150,000 vehicles from the current 100,000. Meanwhile, the company hopes that its China sale will increase by 200,000 units.

Industry sources said Toyota Motor reduced its 2009 global sales target to 9.70 million cars from 10.40 million due to the weary demand from the U.S. market and soaring prices of raw materials. However, it planned to sell more cars in emerging markets like China, thought it was also affected by a slower economic growth.

China is one of Toyota's most important overseas markets and will be an important force to help the company get over the economic downturn worldwide. With the world economy likely to continue to decline next year, Japanese carmakers including Toyota, for the consideration of their global strategies, will probably speed up their expansion in the Chinese market, as per industry analysts.