Chinese made Toyota RAV4 to launch next year

Guangzhou Toyota | Ash | December 19, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Guangzhou Toyota currently have a SUV in their line-up, the Highlander, unfortunately the Highlander is much bigger than the Honda CRV, Nissan Qashqai and various other small compact SUV’s that it just cant compete with. Toyota have decided to put the RAV4 into production in China early next year, and should see itself on the market in April 2009, priced from 170,000rmb to 220,000rmb depending on specification, this price would put it right between its two biggest competitors the recently launched Nissan Qashqai and the extremely well selling Honda CRV.

Whilst US models of the RAV4 get V6 offerings, its more than likely Toyota will offer 2.0l and 2.4l models to the Chinese market, where buyers are more focused on economy than big power.

Toyota also has plans to put the Highlander into production in China in the coming year, which should give Toyota a nice SUV line up in a market where SUV purchasing are bucking the downwards sales trends that we have seen in overseas markets.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.