Toyota and FAW to work on self developed electric car

Toyota China | Ash | February 15, 2011 at 10:28 am

According to recent reports the partnership between FAW’s Tianjin subsidiary and Toyota is readying a self developed electric car for the Chinese market. The new EV will be pushed into yet another sub brand from FAW, development on the brand and the first model are currently in negotiation with Toyota regarding the vehicle, and it is expected to see a launch before 2012.

The new EV will be based on the Toyota Vios compact car which is about to go out of production in China and would use a self developed electric drive train that Tianjin FAW would develop themselves.

Tiajin Toyota are already working on developing a new R&D facility with 75,000 sq meters of space that will incorporate a design center, a conference center, and a laboratory. The main tasks of this new center will be to undertake the localization of Toyota’s China models, development of new models, development of new energy cars and testing, and will also be tasked with giving small facelifts to Chinese produced models.

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.