GAC Toyota aims to restore past glory

GAC Toyota celebrates its 20th anniversary in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Nov 13. [Photo by Cao Yingying/chinadaily.com.cn]

GAC Toyota aims to once again reach annual production and sales of 1 million units, striving to be a leader in the intelligent electric era through comprehensive restructuring in product R&D, manufacturing and marketing, the joint venture announced at its 20th anniversary conference in Guangzhou on Wednesday.

Wen Dali, executive deputy general manager of the Sino-Japanese joint venture, said: "Rooted in the Chinese market with a long-term perspective, GAC Toyota will build an R&D system tailored to the local market, creating Chinese experience at Chinese speed."

The system, based on market insights, will cover product planning, development, evaluation and lifecycle management, ensuring that products manufactured in China are entirely handled by local teams.

GAC Toyota's first self-developed model, bZ3X, is set to debut at the Guangzhou auto show.

Meanwhile, the automaker will focus on multi-power coexistence, with five routes of hybrid, pure electric, plug-in hybrid, range-extended and hydrogen, and accelerate smart driving upgrades.

The company has partnered with Chinese autonomous driving startups Momenta and Pony.ai to enhance autonomous driving.

GAC Toyota was founded back in 2004. It operates five world-class modern plants, producing a wide range of vehicles from sedans to SUVs and MPVs, supported by over 600 dealerships nationwide. With once-popular models such as Camry and Highlander, the automaker has around 9 million users in China.