- Image of Toyota FCHV-ADV - Comyu
Toyota FT-CH and FCHV-ADV concept cars reached Beijing on April 20 for the 2010 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition that will be held next week (April 26 – 30), according to a Tuesday report of the Bitauto.com, a Beijing-based automotive web site. This will be one of Toyota’s important steps to the most promising automotive market in the world.
Toyota Car Targets China as Most Promising Market
Though the United States is still Toyota’s biggest market, the Chinese market seems to be more like Toyota’s future. In 2009 Toyota sold 1.77 million vehicles to the United States, falling 20% from the 2008 level. In the same period, the auto giant sold 0.709 million vehicles to China, increasing 121% from 2008, according to a March 8th report from the Chongqing Daily when Toyota apologized for the recall event.
The booming Chinese automotive market boosted Toyota’s China business. There were 13 million vehicles sold in the Chinese market in 2009, hiking 38% from the 2008 level, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE China). SAE China President Zhang Xiao Yu forecasted that the total sales of automobiles will increase around 15% to 15 million in the Chinese market, according to a SAE China statement released earlier this year.
“Toyota vehicles account for around 5% of the Chinese automotive market. In the first month of this year the company sold more than 72,000 automobiles in China. This was a good start. Though the recall event will bring negative impact on the Toyota, I think their sales will still grow by a high percentage this year,” Yang Xue Feng, a Guangdong-based automobile wholesaler told Suite101.com in a telephone interview on April 21. He estimated that China might become Toyota’s biggest market within five years.
Toyota FT-CH, FT-EV II, Prius Plug-IN Hybrid, FT-86, FCHV-ADV Cars Debut in China Market
Toyota will launch five concept auto models in next week's Beijing auto expo, including FT-CH, FT-EV II, Prius Plug-IN Hybrid, FT-86, a small-sized FR sports car, and FCHV-ADV, a fuel-battery hybrid. Toyota will introduce these five concept models in the global market between 2012 and 2015.
The five models will target different kinds of customers in China. For example, the FT-CH is a downstream version of the small hybrid Lexus LF-CH concept. It is smaller than the Prius too, having just 153 inches long and 68.5 inches wide. If Toyota sells it, the FT-CH would be priced below the Prius and aimed at a young and hip Chinese people who gradually become the main buyers in the Chinese automotive market.
Chen Nanyang - Chen Nanyang's journalist career began in 2002 when he started writing for China's Nanfang City News, Singapore's United Morning Post and ...
