[CHANGSHU, China] Toyota Motor Corp wants locally procured parts to make up at least half the components in the gasoline-electric hybrid propulsion systems for the Corolla and Levin cars it plans to start making in China next year.
Shinichi Matsumoto, Vice President for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing in China, said Toyota needs that level of local content in order to bring down prices of hybrids and to generate more sales in the world's biggest auto market.
Toyota, which currently pays costly tariffs and transport fees for bringing key components from Japan to assemble hybrid vehicles in China, aims to slash costs by using many locally procured materials and parts, Mr Matsumoto told reporters on Tuesday.
"My feeling is that unless the local procurement ratio reaches 50 per cent, we can't call it 'localised'," he said at a research and development centre in Changshu, about 80 kilometres west of Shanghai. He was referring to number of parts procured specifically for the hybrid system. "Ultimately, our goal is to localise 100 percent."
No comments:
Post a Comment