China carmaker GAC Toyota to boost production by 50pc in 2017

GAC Toyota Motor, a joint venture Chinese carmaker renown for its popular Camry and Highlander-branded sedans, vows to boost production capacity by as much as 50 per cent with the implementation of a new manufacturing line next year, a company executive said.

The car giant founded by state-owned GAC Group and Japanese titan Toyota Motor Company set an annual target of 600,000 vehicles starting in 2017, a jump from about 400,000 in 2015, executive deputy general manager Li Hui said on Friday during the 2016 Guangzhou Auto Show.

“We are introducing a third production line that will significantly beef up our manufacturing, while we also expect to help our dealers double their profits within three years,” Li said.

The new assembly line to be put in place by 2017 is expected to churn out as many as 220,000 new vehicles annually when running at full strength, according to the Guangzhou-based carmaker.

But that is still significantly smaller in production scale compared with GAC Honda, another GAC’s joint venture with a Japanese carmaker, which has been making millions of vehicles every year in China.

GAC Toyota Motor has been competing head to head with rivals such as Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda and is now raising its bets on hybrid vehicles to win greater market share amid strong competition.

“We see our hybrid car production on track to reach 32,000 by the end of 2016, which will be a 300 per cent jump from the year earlier,” said Yamauchi Kobayashi, general manager with GAC Toyota, while unveiling at the trade fair a family-friendly YARiS L model that will be ready to take Chinese orders starting the first quarter of next year.