Toyota Motor Corporation said on Monday it aims to select a new partner to produce passenger cars in China by the end of July, Dow Jones reported. A Toyota spokeswoman told the news agency that Toyota president Fujio Cho “hopes to decide by the end of this month” on a Chinese partner but didn’t elaborate on the progress made in talks with local car makers.
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Dow Jones said Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., which already runs a joint venture with Honda Motor, is one of the companies Toyota is in talks with but, citing the spokeswoman, added that ” no official decision” has yet been made on who to team up with or on details of production.
Dow Jones noted that Toyota, which currently makes Toyota-brand cars in northern China with the FAW Group, said in early July that it is in joint venture negotiations with Guangzhou Automobile and other manufacturers and hopes the tie-up will help it achieve its target of a 10% share of the mainland China market in 2010.
According to Dow Jones, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Saturday morning edition that Toyota is likely to invest more than 30 billion yen to build a plant with Guangzhou Automobile and start production of the medium-sized Camry sedan in 2005.
An alliance with Guangzhou Automobile will put Toyota in head-to-head competition with Honda which has been enjoying success in the fast-growing Chinese market with its medium-sized Accord sedan, Dow Jones said.
