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FAW Toyota two famous models are determined to stop production this year and leave the Chinese market for a while. According to media sources, FAW Toyota Crown officially stopped production on the evening of April 28 as the last 14th-generation Toyota Crown went off the line at the factory, meaning that Toyota Crown models bid farewell to domestic consumers.

The news of FAW Toyota Crown's withdrawal from the Chinese market came out at the end of 2018, and the final manufacturer did not stop its production and sales completely, but produced it in small quantities or according to order. But at the same time, due to the implementation of national six emission standards, domestic crown models can only be sold in national five regions. In 2019, the cumulative sales data of the domestic Toyota Crown was 10378. As the product is no longer updated and the promotion stops, the withdrawal of the domestic Toyota crown is not surprising.

Toyota Crown has long established an image of high-end products in the Chinese market, came to China as an imported car, and began to be known by consumers in the domestic market as the seventh generation model, which was once one of the representative models in the domestic business car and taxi market. From 1984 to 2001, the crown experienced many generations until the tenth generation of models. Later, due to strategic adjustment, the eleventh generation of the crown failed to enter the country. During this period, Toyota began to lay out FAW Toyota, a joint venture in China, until the 12th generation of Crown re-entered the eyes of the Chinese people in 2005 and put into production in FAW Toyota plant in a domestic way.

The 12th generation Crown was once the strongest competitor of the Audi A6, even surpassing the sales of the Audi A6, with monthly sales of 20,000 units, which is also the peak period after the Crown entered China.

In 2009, the 13th generation of Crown was launched in China, but the market competitiveness is not as good as before, sales continue to decline, the sudden development of German luxury cars, Toyota Crown gradually lost its position in the market. Even if the mid-term revamping of the 13th generation model appears, it has not greatly improved its market competitiveness.

The 14th generation Crown went on sale domestically in 2015. The car has completely lowered its profile in terms of pricing and positioning, and the product has also changed its high-end and stable image, focusing on the characteristics of young sports. The previous 14-generation Crown still uses the old 2.5-liter six-cylinder engine, while replacing the six-cylinder 3.0-liter power system with a brand new 2.0T four-cylinder engine. To the later stage of the product, the domestic Toyota Crown only retained the 2.0T four-cylinder model, and the price was further downgraded to 250800 yuan.

Facts have proved that lower positioning and lower price competition have also failed to bring Crown back into the mainstream market. As this generation of models enters the end of the product and the new flagship Toyota Asian Dragon takes over from the market, Toyota Crown, an epoch-making model, will eventually withdraw from the domestic market, as well as the old rear drive platform of Toyota.

Takeshi Ota, deputy general manager of FAW Toyota sales company, has said: FAW Toyota hopes Asian Dragon can make up for the part of sales lost by the discontinuation of Crown and Ruizhi.

FAW Toyota decided to stop production of another model this year is the Prado, its production line will be transformed to produce the B-class sedan Asian Dragon model under the TNGA structure. Previously, under the influence of the national fuel limit regulations (GB19578), domestic Prado 2.7L products officially stopped production in October 2017, while due to national 6 emission regulations, domestic Prado 3.5L products will stop production in June 2020. It means that FAW Toyota Prado will also withdraw from the Chinese market.

Ruizhi, Crown, Prado, Lande Cool Luze stop production, means that the old impression of FAW Toyota era is about to become a thing of the past, while taking into account commercial factors, sales factors, the elimination of old products is also a choice that enterprises should make. In the new era, FAW Toyota will introduce more products close to the Chinese market and consumers.

In terms of products, FAW Toyota will launch new Corolla, new Wechi, Yize EV and Rongfang PHEV models in 2020. In the future, FAW Toyota will also introduce a new generation of Hanlanda sister cars, a new generation of Harrier (Haiya), a new generation of Sienna (Senna) and other brand-new models, at the same time, there will be more electric products on the market.

FAW Toyota sold 738000 vehicles in 2019, up 2 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data. In the first quarter of 2020, FAW Toyota sold a total of 124000 vehicles, of which the first quarter sales of the main selling models, Asian Dragon, Carola and RAV4, were 14000, 54000 and 29000 respectively. Toyota Crown has since been kicked off the list of FAW Toyota products.

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