Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., a China venture of Japan's biggest automaker Toyota Motor Corp., will consider making Previa, disclosed a top executive from the venture.
Previa, a seven-seat MPV, is now sold in China as Toyota's import model at a price range between CNY 459,800 and CNY 532,000.
Besides the Camry and Yaris models, the venture will make other new models when it brings its second plant into operation, noted Yuan Zhongrong, deputy executive general manager of Guangzhou Toyota.
It plans to produce a MPV model in the future. However, Yuan clarified that they would choose a suitable model after researching the market. The model may not be the guessed Previa.
Earlier, Guangzhou Toyota was reported to start building its second plant. The construction will take more than one year.
The new plant, located in the Guangzhou Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone, will drive up the venture's production capacity to 500,000 units.
Covering an area of at least 800,000 square meters, it is expected to be brought into operation before the third quarter of next year, disclosed a source close to the company.
The venture once announced in late 2006 that it would commence the production of Yaris in mid-2008. In fact, Guangzhou Toyota had planned to produce the model in 2007, and then delayed the plan in order to avoid capacity shortage due to the surging sales of Camry, a medium- and high-class car model under the brand of Toyota.
In April 2007, Camry obtained a sales volume of 15,000 units and it became the first medium- and high-class model to surpass the 15,000 milestone. It was atop the sales list for medium- and high-class models in June 2007, becoming the champion for consecutive six months. In the first half of 2007, Guangzhou Toyota totally made 80,933 Camry cars, gaining production value of CNY 15.405 billion.
In the light of its soaring sales, the venture has unnoticeably raised its 2007 sales goal further to 170,000 cars after the earlier upward adjustment from initially 150,000 units to 167,000 units, said sources. Notably, it also aims to increase the number of 4S stores to 160 from the current 116.
Established on September 1, 2004, Guangzhou Toyota has a total registered capital of CNY 1.3 billion and employed approximately 4,100 staffers.
Its Japanese parent Toyota strives to snatch a 10 percent share in China, the world's second largest auto market, in 2010.
Editor: canton fair |