Toyota To Make "Mini Cars" In China Starting Mid-2003

BEIJING -Dow Jones news service reported that Toyota Motor Corp. will begin making Toyota-branded cars in China starting in the middle of 2003, a Toyota spokesman said Thursday.

Speaking at a ceremony to announce the set up of joint operations between Toyota and Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group Corp., Masashi Honda said Toyota would transfer to FAW the technology to make the vehicles.

Honda said Toyota and FAW would make "mini cars" at FAW's facility in Tianjin starting in mid-2003, with annual production of about 100,000 vehicles.

Production on Toyota-branded luxury sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, will also start in mid-2003, Honda said. They will be made at a facility in Changchun that will produce 10,000 to 20,000 vehicles a year, he said.

Production of medium- and large-sized luxury sedans will start in 2005. Toyota hopes to produce 50,000 a year of those vehicles at the facility in Tianjin.

FAW Group Corp., also known as First Automotive Works, is China's largest vehicle maker. It is also a joint venture partner with Volkswagen AG and is the parent of domestically-listed unit FAW Car Co. .