Toyota Wants 650 Chinese Dealers by End 2009

Similar to other car makers out there, Toyota wants to benefit from the growing auto sector in China and, in order to do so, the Japanese manufacturer aims to increase its local count of authorized dealerships from 550 to 650 by the end of the year. More specifically, the company wants to raise the Toyota stores from 506 to 589 and Lexus dealers from 50 to 60, gasgoo.com wrote today citing a report by Kyodo News.

Toyota is doing pretty well in China, a growing market that brought enthusiastic sales to most carmaker selling vehicles in the country. The Japanese manufacturer increase its sales in China by 43 percent in August compared to the same month of the previous year to 66,600 units. In the first eight months of 2009, Toyota sold a total of 415,000 units, up 9 percent versus January - August 2008.

Even if Toyota is looking to expand its business in China, the company might face strong opposition right from a local car. BYD, the largest Chinese rechargeable battery maker, hopes to become the no. 1 carmaker in the country by 2015 and even snatch Toyota's global leading position by 2025.

"We have plenty of time to become China's top carmaker by 2015 with a complete and mature product line-up. I am sure we can achieve the target earlier than scheduled," Wang Jianjun, deputy general manager of BYD Auto Sales Co told the China Daily. "BYD was also making efforts to overtake Toyota to become the world's No 1 carmaker in 2025, with annual sales of over 10 million cars expected by that time," Wang said.