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Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. deepens cooperation with Chinese automobile enterprises and plans to provide core technology of hybrid electric power to further expand market share.

Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. has decided to provide its joint venture partner in China, Guangzhou Automobile Group, with a "gasoline-electric" hybrid technology system, the first time Toyota has provided core hybrid technology to an overseas company, Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on October 16.

Japanese company BluE Nexus, which develops and supplies hybrid powertrain systems, has reached an agreement with GAC Group on technology transfer. In response to this matter, GAC Group insiders revealed to the media that the news has not been officially announced, but it is certain that GAC hybrid products using Toyota THS system will be launched in 2021.

BluE Nexus is a joint venture between Toyota, Denso and Aisin Seiki. Toyota China officials said they had not received accurate information.

THS is the energy-saving technology mainly promoted by Toyota at present. It is equipped with this technology system on many models launched in China, including Rayling/Corolla double-lift, Camry double-lift, Asian Dragon double-lift, RAV4 double-lift, etc., which can effectively reduce fuel consumption and emission. In September this year, Toyota Motor Corporation officially announced that its cumulative sales of HEV hybrid vehicles in China exceeded 1 million.

As Toyota gradually opens up its core technology of hybrid electric power and cooperates deeply with Chinese companies to promote it, its significance is self-evident. Toyota's move is to further expand its market share of hybrid electric power technology, reduce costs, promote the application of hybrid technology in an all-round way with Chinese automobile enterprises, and may also allow more enterprises to join the technology camp of hybrid electric vehicles, which will have a profound impact on the technological development path of the automobile industry.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments have reviewed and approved the new version of the Measures for Parallel Management of Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Car Enterprises and Points of New Energy Vehicles, which put forward the concept of "low fuel consumption passenger cars" for the first time and clarified the preferential rules for point accounting, which will be implemented from January 1,2021. Oil-electric hybrid models represented by Toyota and Honda will be included in the environmental protection category under the new management measures, which will provide benefits for the hybrid technology route and encourage more Chinese automobile enterprises to pay more attention to hybrid technology.

In fact, Toyota has already made a layout in China's export technology. In September 2019, GAC signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Toyota, including carrying fuel cell technology on the models of GAC and joint ventures, expanding the cooperation scope of hybrid vehicles, and promoting the development of electric vehicle models. This move is expected to enhance the development and production capacity of energy-saving vehicles and new energy vehicles of both brands.

It is believed that the introduction of Toyota hybrid technology into GAC is also part of the strategic cooperation between the two parties. At that time, Toyota signed a contract with another joint venture partner, China First Automobile Group Co., Ltd.

According to Toyota's latest target, it plans to sell more than 5.5 million electric vehicles in 2025, including more than 4.5 million HEV and PHEV models and more than 1 million EV and FCEV models.

As the world's largest single market, China will be an important strategic layout for Toyota to achieve this goal. Cooperation with Chinese car companies will expand the market share of its hybrid technology faster.

Ren Wanfu, a senior auto industry analyst, told the media that for Toyota, hybrid technology is Toyota's global technological advantage, but the rapid development of new energy makes Toyota feel pressure, after all, it has no advantage in the field of new energy. Therefore, Toyota has carried out a series of actions such as publishing 23,000 technology patents and announcing free use for other manufacturers, hoping to expand the scope of use of hybrid technology and form an industrial scale to resist the impact of new energy vehicles. This time, hybrid technology is provided to GAC Group, on the one hand, in order to further expand its influence, on the other hand, it also has the meaning of showing good cooperation partners.

According to official data released by Toyota Motor Corporation, its sales volume of new vehicles in China reached 179,400 in September, up 25.3% year-on-year, rising for six consecutive months; from January to September, Toyota's cumulative sales volume in China was 1,262,400 vehicles, up 6.9% year-on-year, achieving 71.7% of the annual target of 1.76 million vehicles.

Sales continue to soar, technology permeates autonomous car companies, and Toyota's "ambition" to expand in China is growing. Earlier, official sources said Toyota was working with Geely Automobile, China's largest private car company, to promote hybrid technology through its Chinese hybrid core component supplier partner Keliyuan. Toyota and Geely both confirmed the news, but details and progress of the cooperation have not yet been announced.

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