Toyota Motor Corp. president Fujio Cho reportedly said the firm’s efforts to succeed in China were a long-term project, adding he was not preoccupied with near-term profitability and market share.
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Reuters noted that Toyota is making big advances in most major markets but is a laggard in China, which has overtaken Germany as the third-largest car market behind the United States and Japan.
“Compared with General Motors and Volkswagen AG, we’re only 10th or 11th place in China and our cars aren’t selling much,” Cho reportedly said, adding: “But we’re looking at China over the span of 20 to 30 years, and we believe that as long as there’s a solid base for profits in 30 years’ time, it’s alright. We’re not preoccupied with profits and sales for this year or next year.”
According to Reuters, Cho also said Toyota would assign one of its eight new vice presidents to take office in June solely to that market, underscoring its importance – China is now supervised by senior managing director Akio Toyoda, who also oversees other Asian markets outside Japan.
Reuters said that, last year, Toyota sold 116,000 cars in China, taking about 5% of the passenger car market, while rival Honda had almost double that, with 214,500 units sold.
With sales of the locally-produced Crown high-end sedan starting this spring, Toyota has said it wanted to expand volumes further in 2005, the report added.
