TOYOTA (dpa-AFX) - Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, TYT.L) said Sunday that it plans to launch more than 15 new models in China by the end of 2017 and also strengthen its production operations in the world's largest auto market.
At the 2014 Beijing Motorshow, Toyota Executive Vice President Yasumori Ihara said that the new Corolla and Levin sedan models, to be unveiled shortly, will be available from next year as hybrid models with major hybrid components produced in China.
This will also be the first time that Toyota will make hybrid cars with hybrid components produced outside Japan. The Corolla and Levin hybrid vehicles will carry made-in-China batteries, hybrid transaxles and inverters.
Ihara said Toyota hopes to achieve auto sales in China of more than 2 million vehicles per year, but did not give any specific time frame to achieve that target. He noted that Toyota's sales target in China for this year is more than 1.1 million vehicles. The company sold 920,000 vehicles in China in 2013.
Toyota currently ranks sixth overall in the Chinese auto market and is the second-largest among Japanese automakers in the country, behind Nissan Motor Co. Ltd (NSANY). Ihara noted that Toyota aims to become the largest Japanese automaker in China and also have the third-largest by-brand market share in that country.
In order to make its products more attractive to Chinese consumers, Toyota plans to focus on launching highly desirable new models in the compact vehicle segment that accounts for 60 percent of the Chinese market.
Toyota's joint-venture partners in China are China FAW Group Corp. or FAW, and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. or GAC.
TM closed Thursday's trading at $108.02, down $0.45 or 0.41 percent on a volume of 393,123 shares.
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