Toyota and Guangzhou Automobile plan to build a plant in China for US$1.64 billion, with an annual output of 400,000 new energy vehicles

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Toyota Motor plans to expand its joint venture plant with its local partner Guangzhou Auto Group by spending US$1.64 billion to produce up to 400,000 new energy vehicles in China.

GAC and Toyota will invest 274 million US dollars in the new plant respectively, and the rest will be undertaken by the joint venture GAC Toyota Motor.

In 2018, Toyota's new car sales in the Chinese market increased by 14% to 1.47 million. In 2019, Toyota's sales target in China was 1.6 million units, an increase of 8% on the basis of last year.

GAC Toyota began selling plug-in hybrids in February this year and plans to launch pure electric vehicles during the year. The joint venture will also launch its own electric car next year.

In addition, Toyota and GAC have also seen the growth of traditional vehicles, investing 600 million US dollars to increase the annual production capacity of an engine plant to 430,000.