Toyota to build its first CVT plant in China
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TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. will build a continuously variable transmission factory in China with annual capacity of 240,000 units to supply output of small, fuel-efficient cars there.
Toyota plans to spend $285 million to build the plant in Changshu, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, the company said last month. The plant is to open in September 2014.
The factory will be Toyota’s first CVT plant in China, the world’s biggest auto market, and comes as the Japanese carmaker expects surging demand for smaller cars there.
“By producing CVTs in China, we will be able to provide high-performance, fuel-efficient cars to even more consumers in China,” said Hirokazu Yase, president of the plant, which will operate under a new joint venture called Toyota Motor (Changshu) Auto Parts Co.
The new business is jointly owned by the Japanese parent company, its local Chinese subsidiary and a Japanese transmission-making unit called Toyota Motor Hokkaido, Inc.
The plant will employ 850 people and cover 1.5 million square feet.
