Toyota Motor Corp. is aiming to triple car production in China by as soon as 2030 in a renewed push to make up lost ground in the world's biggest market, according to sources.

Asia's largest automaker is targeting to manufacture 3.5 million vehicles annually in China around that year while boosting imports to the country to half a million vehicles, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the internal goal is private for now. Toyota can currently produce 1.16 million cars in China annually, and sold 1.3 million there last year to claim a market share of 4.5 percent. Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co. delivered more than 4 million each.

The foray comes as Chinese officials warm to the hybrid technology that Toyota pioneered with the Prius, amid a realization that electric vehicles alone probably won't be able to achieve Beijing's ambitious environment targets, two of the people said. The government is aiming for a fifth of car sales by 2025 to be so-called new-energy vehicles, which include pure EVs and plug-in hybrids. Stringent quotas for NEV production go into force from next year.