Rumors are circulating that the Toyota RAV 4 SUV may well be produced in China over the coming months.
The SUV market, despite recent blips in sales, is still increasing at a rapid rate. Toyota’s rivals, Honda, Toyota, Kia, and Hyundai, all have Chinese made vehicles on the market in China. The RAV4 will certainly fill a gap in the low cost SUV segment that appears to be controlled soley by its rivals. The only SUV that Toyota makes in China is the full sized Toyota Prado, in the FAW-Sichuan factory, and comes with a very high price tag.
An entry into the domestically made SUV market will surely guarantee that Toyota will have a car in nearly every segment of the market.
Currently, an imported RAV 4 costs 350,000rmb for the top model, once produced in China we estimate that price tag will fall into the 230,000rmb range to make it competitive with its nearest rival, the Honda CRV.
Interesting, I wasn’t aware Toyota was so big that they’re now rivaling themselves. It’s almost like GM back in the 90’s!
Somebody in China will copy the darn thing down to the ashtray and hood emblem…Maybe already have. Brilliant!
Yeah it’s called the Tiggo and sold by Chery. All right it’s not a copy but it does look a bit similar and I’ve seen some faked out as RAV4s.