recently, toyota announced its consolidated financial results for fiscal year 2024 (april 1, 2024 – march 31, 2025). while maintaining its position as the world’s top-selling automaker, toyota remains the most profitable car company globally, with unmatched money-making capabilities.
in fy2024, toyota group sold 10.27 million vehicles, a slight year-on-year decline of 0.3%. its operating revenue reached 48.03 trillion yen, up 6.5% from the previous year, while net profit was 4.76 trillion yen, down 3.6%. for fy2025, toyota aims to sell 10.4 million vehicles and generate 48.5 trillion yen in revenue. however, due to exchange rate and tariff factors, it has lowered its net profit target to 3.1 trillion yen.
in 2025, toyota will focus on two key themes: “enhancing the resolution of our multi-pathway approach” and “establishing a foundation for toyota-unique software-defined vehicles”. toyota will continue to establishing development and production systems tailored to each region so as to address the needs of customers from up close and deliver cars on time. toyota will promote more environmentally friendly mobility centered on hybrids, accelerate the spread of carbon-neutral fuels, popularize battery electric vehicles (bevs), innovate in both vehicles and battery technologies, and create a battery ecosystem from battery material procurement collection and reuse.
in the world’s largest auto market, china, toyota has been highly active this year. the company is finally addressing what has long been a weakness in its global strategy—its underdeveloped presence in china.
despite the massive size and growth potential of the chinese market, toyota still lags behind byd and volkswagen in market share and brand strength. however, it has already surpassed traditional rivals like general motors, nissan, and honda—without even fully deploying its new energy vehicle (nev) strategy as of 2024.
from the bz5 and bz7 to the bz3x, toyota is declaring full-scale entry into china’s nev market starting in 2025. gac toyota's bz3x had a strong start, selling over 20,000 units and delivering more than 10,000 units within just two months of launch.
however, toyota’s ambitions in china go far beyond the high-profile electrification efforts of gac toyota and faw toyota. what’s coming next is an explosion of growth driven by toyota’s deeper, strategic integration into the chinese market.
lexus has established a wholly owned nev company in shanghai, integrating battery and vehicle operations across r&d, production, and sales. meanwhile, toyota has formed strategic partnerships with shudao group and china minmetals, completing its layout in hydrogen power and battery recycling.
in april, shudao group and toyota announced the establishment of shudao toyota hydrogen energy technology, which will invest 1 billion yuan to build a hydrogen fuel cell production line. this includes r&d, production, sales, and after-sales service for fuel cell systems, fuel cell stacks, and core components.
prior to this, toyota's joint hydrogen ventures with sinohytec—toyota sinohytec fuel cell (fcts) and united fuel cell system r&d (fcrd)—officially began operations in august 2024, with an annual production capacity of 10,000 units. phase ii will begin in 2026.
in may, toyota china and china minmetals subsidiaries (hunan cloud storage recycling new energy, minmetals new energy materials, and meiwa shanghai) announced a joint venture called hunan cloud storage siweipu new energy, with registered capital of 100 million yuan, aiming to build a new ecosystem for retired battery recycling and reuse.
from integrated die-casting at lexus’ shanghai plant and solid-state batteries, to local hydrogen powertrains and battery recycling, toyota has completed a comprehensive layout of its nev business in china—marking a new growth peak.
what’s striking about these major moves is that they bypass toyota’s traditional joint ventures with faw and gac, and instead focus on deeply integrated nev initiatives. once again, toyota demonstrates its ability to balance and maneuver among diverse stakeholders.
toyota's strategic play in china's nev market reflects the global leader’s grand vision. it’s a necessary move to ensure balanced global development, and a sign of its strong confidence in both china's economy and automotive industry.
in the early 2020s—a time of major economic and industrial challenges—faw toyota and gac toyota each built three advanced factories and introduced nearly ten new models including the sienna, harrier, corolla cross, and bz4x.
from setting up a bev r&d joint venture with byd——btet for faw toyota, to deepening its cooperation with gac for nev development, toyota has begun fully integrating china’s electric and intelligent vehicle resources—opening new paths for growth.
looking at the global landscape, toyota is the most assertive multinational automaker when it comes to engaging the chinese market. it’s not just trying to profit from chinese consumers—it’s also reinvesting global profits to empower china’s auto industry. while many foreign automakers want to make money in china, toyota is using its global might to help upgrade china’s automotive sector.
from the crown and toyota to lexus, and from the camry and corolla to the rav4, toyota has introduced its top global models to the chinese market. its long-term investment and confidence in china is finally beginning to pay off.
in changshu, jiangsu, toyota established an r&d center for electric and intelligent vehicles (iem by toyota) and created the rce（regional chief engineer）system tailored for toyota china. the company aims not only to build vehicles suited for the chinese market and its consumers but also to infuse the global toyota brand with chinese innovation.
the new generation lexus es already reflects this transformation. next in line—the new rav4, wildlander, and corolla—will show us a toyota that is more localized for china and simultaneously more global in reach.
for years, the idea of developing china-exclusive or china-first models has been misunderstood as market fragmentation, and sometimes even criticized by savvy chinese consumers. but toyota is now determined to pursue a “have it both ways” strategy—advancing a unified global vision while tailoring products for local markets.
toyota’s global profitability is unmatched, and its chinese joint ventures—faw toyota and gac toyota—are also among the most profitable carmakers in the country. that’s the strength toyota will rely on as it steps into the future.
with hybridization across its ice models and a rapid global push in nevs, the healthy development of the auto industry may still depend on toyota—because borrowed strength is never reliable, only your own capabilities can ensure long-term success.
toyota has been in china for 60 years. camry, corolla, and rav4 are still its anchors, now joined by bestsellers like highlander, sienna, and bz3x. this is a mutual journey between toyota and chinese consumers.
in the endlessly competitive chinese market, all players may want to revisit the toyota way—pursuing innovation with steadiness, and rooting global ambition in local relevance. opportunities in china will continue to emerge, but do you still have the ability—and the means—to seize them?
