Toyota to build R&D center for hybrid cars in China

Toyota Motor Corp. held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 22 for a new research and development (R&D) center in eastern China for plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles and electric cars. The company will build a facility with a 5.2-kilometer test circuit on a 2,340,000 square-meter plot in Jiangsu Province at a cost of US$689 million. Operations will start in 2013. Toyota will also manufacture key components for gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China, President Akio Toyoda said during the ceremony. It will also look at improving conventional internal combustion engines for the Chinese market and quality control for such vehicles, as well as come up with ways to produce key components in China and cut costs to boost global competitiveness. It said it will cooperate with local firms with which Toyota jointly produces vehicles in the Chinese market. (October 22, 2011)