- Toyota Motor Corporation has announced plans to open a new fully-owned company within Shanghai, China, which will produce both fully-electric cars and EV batteries within the country.
- The first electric car to come out of its new Chinese operation will be a Lexus-branded BEV with an initial annual production capacity of 100,000.
- With its move into China, Toyota is hoping to succeed against local EV brands where other foreign entrants have previously struggled.
Toyota expands its EV operations to China
Toyota already operates joint ventures in China with manufacturers such as FAW and GAC Group, but this new entity will be wholly-owned by Toyota. The new facility is part of a larger partnership agreed between Toyota and the Shanghai municipal government, with the OEM helping contribute to China’s goal of carbon neutrality in 2060.
The Lexus BEV, which will be the first EV to come out of the new production site, is expected to begin production in 2027 – with an initial annual production capacity of 100,000 units, suggesting that production numbers of this EV could be boosted further in the years following. This model is likely to be a China-specific model, with Toyota noting that the establishment of the new company was crucial to provide a ‘quicker supply of products that meet customers’ needs’ within China in particular.
This significant production capacity for the initial model hints at the new site becoming a major source of EV production for the manufacturer. It remains to be seen if Toyota will also use the site for EVs destined outside of China, much like at Tesla’s Shanghai factory.
As well as starting to produce EV batteries within China, Toyota is set to imminently produce such batteries in the U.S. – after it also confirmed that its North Carolina battery site will start distributing batteries for EVs from April. This particular facility will mark Toyota’s first in-house battery plant outside of its home territory, Japan.