Gasgoo.com (Shanghai October 25) - Toyota's new Chinese research and development center in Jiangsu province will focus on further developing hybrid and other electric vehicle technology, the Beijing Morning Post reported manufacturer President and CEO Akio Toyoda as saying. The center, whose launch was attended by officials from the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as well as Jiangsu provincial ministers, begun operation this weekend.

The R&D center, which will cooperate with both FAW Toyota and Guangqi Toyota, will hopefully produce results by 2015. "Toyota has decided that, during the Twelfth Five-Year Guideline (an economic directive lasting until 2015), [the center] will begin developing domestically manufactured vehicles carrying hybrid technology," Mr. Toyoda (pictured) said, adding that those vehicles would be sold by the manufacturer's two joint ventures. "I believe," he stated, "that via this program [Toyota] will be able to realistically promote hybrid electric vehicle technology in China." Mr. Toyoda stressed that development would not be limited to plug-in style electrics, but include other types of EVs as well.

Tadashi Yamashina, formerly Toyota's Technical Administration Group expert board member, has been appointed as the department's new president. Additionally, hybrid technology experts from Japan have been dispatched to China.