NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to receive the Chinese government's authorization Monday for its plan to set up a joint automobile production venture with Guangzhou Auto Group Corp. of China, according to sources.
The plan envisages producing the Toyota Camry midsize car at a plant to be built in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, from 2006 at an initial rate of 10,000 units a year, rising to 200,000 in the future.
The plant will be owned equally by Toyota and Guangzhou Auto.
The two automakers concluded the joint venture agreement last year, but China has yet to authorize it due to a delay in formulating its new auto industry policy.
Toyota and Guangzhou Auto have already founded a joint plant to produce 300,000 engines for the Camry and other models a year starting in 2005.
Guangzhou Auto is Toyota's second joint venture partner in China. Japan's biggest automaker earlier agreed with China FAW Group Corp., China's largest carmaker, to begin joint production of four models, including the Crown and Corolla, by 2005.
With the expected authorization of the latest joint venture, Toyota hopes to capture a 10 percent share of the fast-growing Chinese auto market by 2010.