In 1964, the Toyota Crown was on display at the Canton Fair which marked the company's entry into the Chinese market. In 2024, Toyota China's hydrogen headquarters was established. A dedicated fuel cell R&D and production factory, the first of its kind outside Japan, has been established and started operations in Beijing.
"Looking back over the past 60 years, Toyota has been fortunate to witness and participate in the entire journey of China's auto industry from its inception to its development and then to its leadership in the world," Liu Peng, vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
Over the past 60 years, from exporting a single model to establishing a complete industrial chain, from fuel-powered cars to new energy products with multiple technological paths, from imported technology to local R&D, and from the automobile industry to public welfare, Toyota has carved out a "Chinese path of inheritance and evolution."
Standing at a new historical starting point, China is attracting global foreign investment by embracing a high-level of opening-up. Transitioning from simply selling products to localized operations, and further to leveraging the Chinese market to serve global needs, it has become the strategy of more and more foreign-invested enterprises taking root in China.
Liu said that as a beneficiary of opening up to the outside world, Toyota has achieved unprecedented development results in the fields of vehicle manufacturing and sales, technology research and development, parts production, resource recycling, and financial services.
China's automobile industry is currently leading the global automobile industry in the wave of electrification and intelligent development. Against this background, Toyota continues to strengthen the localized research and development for advanced technology, and continues to expand its "circle of friends" in China in the fields of industry-academia-research cooperation. Toyota will cooperate with more Chinese companies in electrification, intelligence, and mobile travel, jointly develop and produce new intelligent electric models that meet the needs of the Chinese market, explore travel services that meet the needs of Chinese users, while fulfilling corporate social responsibility, and realizing long-term value.
"Under new development trends and historical opportunities, Toyota is accelerating the adjustment of its development strategy in China. While strengthening the localized research and development of advanced technologies, we will continue to increase our investment in China and deepen cooperation with more like-minded partners. As a foreign-invested enterprise, our unwavering goal is to root ourselves in China, create happiness for Chinese society, and grow together with China's automotive industry," he said.
