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| Dr. Jai Maharaj |
 Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 2:10 pm |
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Toyota, FAW to build Prius hybrid car in China
Forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
[ Subject: Toyota, FAW to build Prius hybrid car in China
[ From: fidyl@yahoo.com
[ Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004
Toyota, FAW to build Prius hybrid car in China
By Chang-Ran Kim and Edwin Chan
JAPAN: September 17, 2004
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/27186/story.htm
TOKYO/SHANGHAI - Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote,
Profile, Research) will start building its Prius hybrid
sedans in China next year with FAW Group in a step it
hopes would promote the vehicles as the global standard
for fuel-efficient cars.
The move could also help China as it looks for
alternative energy sources and tries to keep pollution in
check while demand for cars continues to expand. Toyota,
the world's second-largest auto maker, and First
Automotive Works, China's biggest, said in a statement
this week they may also consider building an FAW-brand
hybrid featuring Toyota's technology.
"China's new auto policy places a lot of importance on
the environment, and we want more customers to realise
the benefits of hybrids," Toyota Senior Managing Director
Akio Toyoda told reporters in Beijing, according to a
Toyota spokesman.
Gasoline-electric hybrids are the most fuel-efficient
mass-market vehicles on the road now, with a four-seater
offering about twice the mileage of comparable gasoline-
powered cars.
Toyota and partner FAW plan to assemble the Prius in the
industrial city of Changchun in northeastern China by the
end of 2005 with complete knock-down kits (CKDs) imported
from Japan, a Toyota spokesman said.
Output volume has yet to be decided.
The Prius, which costs about $20,000 and can get up to
35.5 km a litre (84 miles per gallon), enjoys a strong
following in the United States, where customers wait
months for delivery.
Analysts said, however, that it remains to be seen
whether they would catch on in China.
"Concerns about safety and the environment are the luxury
of developed or wealthy countries," said Tim Dunne, a
managing director at consultancy Automotive Resources
Asia.
"The government is very serious about protecting the
environment, but getting the consumers to buy that is a
different story. I don't think people will willingly open
their wallets to spend extra money for the environment."
PRIUS IN DEMAND
Toyota, which became the world's first to develop a
hybrid car for mass production in 1997, has targeted
annual global sales of 300,000 hybrid vehicles by 2005 to
lower production costs.
"Toyota is aiming to supply hybrid cars globally ... and
we are also considering building the Prius and other
hybrid vehicles in North America," Toyoda was quoted as
saying at a signing ceremony in Beijing, attended by the
presidents of FAW and Toyota.
Toyoda's comment marked a shift in Toyota's stance after
the auto maker had repeatedly said it would be difficult
to produce hybrids in North America without the necessary
components supply base. The Prius is currently only built
in Japan.
With global supply for the model falling far short of
orders, Japan's top auto maker has said it would raise
output capacity by half to 15,000 units a month in the
first part of next year.
Rival General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile,
Research) , meanwhile, has been promoting the benefits of
hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles, including in China,
and has said it would be able to commercialise the zero-
emission cars by 2010.
China is the world's largest consumer of oil after the
United States, importing more than a third of its oil
needs. Beijing is concerned that an energy shortage could
stymie economic growth.
Under its auto policy revised in June, the government has
said it wants to raise the average fuel efficiency on
vehicles by 15 percent by 2010 from last year's levels.
To do so, it has said it would support research into
alternative powertrains such as hybrids and cleaner
diesel engines, while also exploring fuel-cell vehicles.
After doubling in 2003, Chinese car sales are forecast by
analysts to rise by a more modest 10 to 20 percent this
year as the government tightened controls on auto loans
to prevent the possibility of a rash of new sour debt.
In the first eight months of this year, sales totalled
1.506 million cars, up 24 percent from the year before.
Toyota has partnered FAW since 2002, and makes the Vios
and Corolla sedans through a joint venture with Tianjin
FAW Xiali Automobile Ltd. (000927.SZ: Quote, Profile,
Research) . FAW Group unit Changchun FAW Fengyue Auto
separately builds Toyota's Land Cruiser 100 model.
(Additional reporting by David Lin and Lu Jianxin in
Shanghai and Shusaku Hattori in Tokyo)
End of forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
Jai Maharaj
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- Matthew 10:34-36.
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