Toyota hopes for laxer rules

Toyota hopes for laxer rules

Agence France-Presse, Tokyo

Senior executives from Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor said Tuesday tight regulations on the automobile business in China will not slow its drive into the booming market although they hope for some relaxation of the rules.

"There is a view that this way of thinking could contradict international rules as China is in the WTO," Toyota president Fujio Cho said when asked about the reported Chinese policy of giving a bigger market share to Chinese carmakers.

"If it is true ... we have to develop new strategies" to deal with Beijing's plan, he told a news conference while noting he did not know about a reported "draft" of China's new auto policy.

China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001.

Cho nonetheless added "there is no question that we will combine all our resources" to expand Toyota's business in China.

Toyota vice president Yoshio Ishizaka noted that Beijing is banning joint ventures between Chinese and foreign companies from selling imported cars through their sales channels.

"We have to obey this rule at the moment ... from an international viewpoint, however, I think this will be changed in the future," Ishizaka said.

He argued customers hoped for "one-stop shopping" rather than going to different dealers depending on whether the cars were domestically-built models or imports.

At the press conference marking the mid-point of the year, Toyota raised its global sales target for 2003 by 60,000 units from the December projection to 5.85 million units, up six percent from 2002.

"Overseas sales will hit a record high of 4.12 million units thanks to growth in North America, Europe and Asia," Cho said.

The company estimated global production at 6.0 million units, up by 130,000 from the earlier projection and up six percent from the previous year.

"The changes stemmed mostly from higher estimates in China and Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand," a Toyota spokesman said.