TOYOTA Motor Corp. is aiming to triple car production in China by as soon as 2030 in a renewed push to make up lost ground in the world’s biggest market, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Asia’s largest automaker is targeting to manufacture 3.5 million vehicles annually in China around that year while boosting imports to the country to half a million vehicles, the sources said, asking not to be identified.

Toyota can currently produce 1.16 million cars in China annually, and sold 1.3 million last year for a 4.5-percent market share. Volkswagen and General Motors delivered more than 4 million each.

The foray comes as Chinese officials warm to the hybrid technology that Toyota pioneered with the Prius. The government is aiming for a fifth of car sales by 2025 to be new energy vehicles, which include pure EVs and plug-in hybrids. Stringent quotas for NEV production go into force from next year.

Toyota is working to correct its course in a market where VW, GM and local manufacturers such as Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. are strengthening their presence with line-ups heavily featuring plug-in vehicles.

Geely, controlled by billionaire Li Shufu, overtook all its Japanese rivals to became China’s third-biggest automaker by sales this year.

By contrast, Toyota had to delay the introduction of a plug-in hybrid Corolla until next year, with an EV version of its compact crossover C-HR not due until 2020.

The China push is one way Toyota is adapting to fast changes in the car market — a focus on self-driving vehicles is another. On Tuesday, Toyota said it is investing US$500 million more in Uber Technologies and that it plans to manufacture minivans loaded with the U.S. company’s software, with testing slated to begin on Uber’s ride-sharing network in 2021.(SD-Agencies)