Trading company and Toyota Motor affiliate Toyota Tsusho Corp plans to increase the number of Toyota dealerships it runs in China to cope with strong demand but has warned profits from global car sales would nearly halve this financial year.
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Toyota Tsusho said it saw potential in emerging economies such as China and Latin America where car dealers were still scarce.
“We plan to increase our dealerships, some through mergers and acquisitions, in China to keep pace with the strong demand growth there,” president and CEO Junzo Shimizu told Reuters.
The new dealerships, to take the number from 26 to 30 within a year, will be mainly in inland China and there are plans to double the network to around 50 within four to five years.
“Global demand for cars will stay at around 70 percent of its peak in the next several years,” Shimizu said.
