NAGOYA, JAPAN: Toyota Motor Corp is considering beginning mass production of electric vehicles in China as early as 2019, as the Chinese government plans to require carmakers to build a minimum number of environmentally friendly vehicles, a source familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
The production of zero-emission vehicles is in line with Toyota's earlier plan to start large-scale output of electric vehicles by 2020 to meet stricter exhaust emission regulations worldwide.
Automakers in the Chinese market will need to produce a certain volume of electric vehicles and other types of green cars as early as 2018 in proportion to their overall sales in the world's biggest auto market.
Because gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles will not be counted in the production requirement, Toyota, the world's leading hybrid carmaker, sees the need to build other types of vehicles with advanced powertrain technology there such as electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which are powered by an electric motor and an internal combustion engine that kicks in when the batteries run low.
Toyota set up a division to step up development of electric vehicles last year and President Akio Toyoda is in charge of the team.
A Toyota executive said it was "natural" to seek to introduce electric cars in China ahead of rivals as emission regulations are becoming tougher.
Toyota may produce the electric version of the C-HR small crossover sport utility vehicle which it plans to start manufacturing in China in 2018.