Ramping up capacity

Globally, Toyota is expected to overtake GM as the world's number one player soon.

While advancing aggressively in North America, Toyota is also expanding at break-neck speed in China to catch up with Japanese rivals Honda Motor Co Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co Ltd.

Analysts say a high oil price environment was helping Toyota -- which like other Japanese auto makers is perceived to produce more fuel-efficient cars -- in China, but new models were helping also.

In May, the maker of the Reiz, Crown and Vios rolled out its first Chinese-made Camry at a new plant in the southern city of Guangzhou, hoping to grab customers from competing brands such as Honda's Accord.

A company spokeswoman said a month later that they would double the Camry capacity at the facility to 200,000 units per year to keep pace with strong demand.

Toyota's capacity in China, including the Guangzhou factory, stood at about 342,000 units. It had applied for approval to build an additional 200,000 units capacity in the northern port city of Tianjin, near Beijing.

1

2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)