Toyota to increase Chinese dealerships

By Shi Jierui

Toyota Tsusho Corp, Japan's sixth-biggest trading company and an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp, says it plans to increase its number of Toyota dealerships in China.

Toyota Tsusho warned profits of global car sales would nearly halve this year and the Japanese carmaker hopes emerging economies, such as China and Latin America, where car dealers were still scarce, could help the company's bottom line.

The new dealerships will be mainly in the Chinese mainland, and the number will increase to 30 within a year, president and CEO Junzo Shimizu said. Toyota plans to double the number of its China dealer network to around 50 within four to five years.