Hybrid Cars made in China via Toyota

Toyota has announced that it will begin making its Prius Hybrid Car in China by the end of next year, extending the Prius market to include Japan, North America, Europe, Australia, and now China.

China FAW Group Corp. agreed to a production and sales agreement to help promote hybrid automobiles in China, while opening up the possibility of a FAW-brand hybrid car, based on Toyota technology, in the future.

Already, in an effort to globalize standards, Toyota has licensed its Toyota Prius hybrid car technology to Ford. Ford will be releasing the first edition of that technology integration into the soon-to-be-released Ford Escape Hybrid SUV.

Currently, Toyota has only a 2 percent market share in China, but hopes to jump to a 10 percent share by 2010.

Speaking of Market Share

The Big 3 American automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler have continued their 10 year drop in domestic auto market share, falling below 60 percent in August -- an all-time low.

An important sign of company strength, market share helps predict future viability, especially during times of industry downturn. As the profitability of trucks and SUVs declines for American automakers, continued loss of market share poses huge problems for the future of the Big 3.