Shanghai (ZXZC)- GAC Toyota, the joint venture between GAC Group and Toyota Motor, announced on July 25 the first phase of its new energy vehicle (NEV) capacity expansion project has started operation in Nansha District, Guangzhou, marking a milestone in its deployment of NEV business.

First phase of GAC Toyota's capacity expansion project; photo credit: GAC Group

Covering an area of 404,000 square meters, the first phase of the aforementioned project is expected to have the assembly lines of Toyota's new-generation global model plant and add an annual capacity of 200,000 NEVs to GAC Toyota.

Founded on September 1, 2004, GAC Toyota saw its first assembly line begin operation in 2006. Up until now, the joint venture has had a capacity of 800,000 vehicles per year, said the company. As of June 2021, the automaker has already output 5.803 million vehicles, generated a total production value of 834.49 billion yuan ($128.71 billion), and received cumulative sales of 895.18 billion yuan ($138.071 billion).

GAC Toyota has formed a product lineup covering traditional fuel-burning vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, all-electric vehicles, as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Besides, an industrial cluster encompassing over 40 auto parts suppliers has been formed with the joint venture as the focus.

For the first half of 2021, GAC Toyota saw its deliveries leap 32% to 426,000 vehicles. Of those, 67,545 units were hybrid electric vehicles, representing a robust 94% year-on-year growth.