Toyota celebrates 50 years in China at Beijing Motor Show

It’s been 50 years since Toyota first entered the Chinese market with the Crown in 1964. The Japanese carmaker, along with its joint-venture partners FAW Group Corp (FAW) and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (GAC), is showcasing a total of 38 vehicles and concepts.

The two main stars at the company’s stand comprise the all-new Corolla produced by FAW and the Levin produced by GAC. Both cars are designed to for the Chinese market and from 2015 will also be available as hybrid models with major hybrid components produced in China. This represents the first-time ever that Toyota will make hybrid cars with hybrid components produced outside Japan. 

Toyota’s executive vice-president Yasumori Ihara said, “China is one of our most important markets. In China, we aim to become the No.1 Japanese automobile maker and have the third largest by-brand market share. Our sales target for this year is an unprecedented 1.1 million-plus vehicles, up from 920,000 vehicles sold last year. My hope is that one day we achieve sales in excess of 2 million vehicles per year. As part of our efforts to achieve this, we plan to launch more than 15 new models here by the end of 2017. At the same time, we will strengthen our production operations here. We aim to focus on launching highly desirable new models in the compact vehicle segment, which accounts for 60 percent of the Chinese market.”