Toyota plans to open 1,000 dealerships in China by 2010 as part of an effort to capture a 10% slice of that country’s auto market, a senior company executive has told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
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Toyota executive vice president Yoshi Inaba, who has led the company’s business in China since a year ago, reportedly said the automaker expects demand in the Chinese passenger vehicle market to grow to roughly 10m vehicles a year by 2010 and wants each of those 1,000 dealers to sell 1,000 vehicles in order for Toyota to sell 1m vehicles by then, up from 183,000 vehicles in China last year.
Inaba told the WSJ the current goal toward 2010 isn’t set in stone since there are different projections of demand over the next five years. “Sooner rather than later we need to come up with more specific action plans,” he said in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal in Japan.
The WSJ noted that Toyota currently operates almost 220 dealerships in a joint venture with China’s First Auto Works Group, and will gain another 110 dealers later this month when its second joint venture in China with Guangzhou Automotive Group launches its retail business.
Guangzhou-Toyota began producing a version of the Camry midsize sedan last month at a new assembly plant near the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the report said, adding that it was the JV’s only model so far.
FAW-Toyota sells a range of vehicles including the Corolla, the Land Cruiser and a medium-sized sedan called the Reiz, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said.
