Toyota’s EV plant

JAPANESE automaker Toyota Motor Corp. announced Wednesday that it will build a new wholly-owned electric vehicle (EV) plant in Shanghai.

The plant, located in Jinshan District, will develop a Lexus brand electric car, with production scheduled for 2027, the company said in a press release. The plant will turn out 100,000 cars annually in the first phase, creating about 1,000 new jobs, it added.

Jinshan District said that it welcomes global investors, and will continue to foster a world-class business environment by providing them with higher-quality, efficient and targeted services.

Zeiss to build new China headquarters

ZEISS Group, a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, plans to acquire a land plot in Shanghai to build its comprehensive headquarters campus for China.

The campus will cover an area of 40,000 square meters, with a total infrastructure investment of more than 600 million yuan (US$82.4 million), Frank Xie, Zeiss’ chief operating officer for China, said Thursday. China became Zeiss’ largest market in 2021. In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2024, the company’s China revenue soared six-fold to record 15.2 billion yuan from 10 years earlier.