Tokyo — Toyota is aiming to triple car production in China by as soon as 2030 in a renewed push to make up lost ground in the world’s biggest market, say people familiar with the plan. Asia’s largest carmaker aims to produce 3.5-million vehicles annually in China around that year while boosting imports to the country to 500,000 vehicles, the people said, asking not to be identified as the internal goal is private for now. Toyota can currently produce 1.16-million cars in China annually, and sold 1.3-million there in 2017 for a 4.5% market share. Volkswagen and General Motors (GM) delivered more than 4-million each. The foray comes as Chinese officials warm to the hybrid technology Toyota pioneered with the Prius, amid a realisation that electric vehicles alone probably will not be able to achieve Beijing’s ambitious environmental targets, two of the people said. The government is aiming for a fifth of car sales by 2025 to be so-called new-energy vehicles. Stringent quotas for produc...
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