Cui Zhuojia: Toyota can not miss the opportunity

On November 8th, Shanghai's Huangpu River edged Toyota's all-new Camry China debut. This is not just a big day for GAC Toyota. For Toyota, it is also a major opportunity to refresh the performance of the Chinese market. In the Chinese market where the growth rate has significantly slowed down, Toyota must not miss this rare opportunity to stand up.

As the world’s largest car manufacturer, Toyota’s performance in China has not been comparable to its strong position in the global market. Sales in the low-lying China region have also put Toyota’s position in jeopardy. This year, the strong growth of Volkswagen and GM has exerted tremendous pressure on Toyota. The key to Toyota's development in the next step must be to change the weakness in China. The head of the company, Mr. Toyoda, has shown his attitude to China three years in a row. China is Toyota's most important market, not one.

The reason why the new Camry is the turning point of Toyota China's “going out of trouble” is because this car is the leader of the Toyota system. Throughout history, the past year when almost every generation of Camry launched a new generation of products is the year of Toyota's sales, which means that the new Camry's comprehensive upgrade of Toyota in terms of products, brands and other aspects will directly drive sales growth. This is particularly important in China. Whoever controls the mid-to-high-end car market will have sufficient influence and brand appeal. The new Camry is undoubtedly a huge plus for Toyota, which is showing a downward trend.

Toyota is significantly behind Volkswagen and GM in terms of the introduction of advanced technologies and models that the market is paying more and more attention to. The concept of VW’s TSI+DSG, as well as the common European platform and the new supercharged engine, have already driven the rapid growth of sales volume. Even Nissan, which is also a Japanese company, has long started to use technology as the mainstay. Nissan has become the dark horse of the auto market in the past two years with the intensification of new technologies and new products. Toyota has always shown its lack of sincerity for the Chinese market. The lag in China’s strategic layout is an important reason for the lack of competitiveness of its products.

The introduction of the new Camry also marks Toyota's introduction of the latest technology to the strategic level. The new 2.5-liter AR Series engine is Toyota's newest engine. The model was introduced into China with the introduction of Camry, and at the same time there is a new 6-speed automatic transmission. These technologies will greatly enhance the overall competitiveness of Toyota's products.

Recently, Toyota’s first technology center in China was officially opened in Changshu and will become Toyota’s largest R&D center in the world after its completion in 2013. In addition to testing and regularization of conventional models, the R&D center will use Toyota's hybrid electric power technology as a foundation to develop localization of core components for research and development, and matching technologies for hybrid vehicles.

This series of actions clearly shows that Toyota’s China strategy is undergoing substantial changes, treating the Chinese market with more sincerity, and introducing more new technologies and products. This is where Toyota’s turn is.