Japanese carmakers are having a hard time in China this year after local consumers shunned their products due to a territorial dispute over a group of islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, but they’re making plans to regain any lost ground starting from next year.
For example, Hiroji Onishi, Toyota’s senior managing Officer, told Reuters on Thursday that the Japanese carmaker will launch two China-only brands via its joint ventures in 2013.
Onishi would not divulge any more details, but we do know that Toyota currently makes cars in China with the FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., so the two new brands should be created in partnership with one or both of these companies.
The revelation came on the same day that Nissan announced plans to begin production of a pure-electric model under its newly created Venucia brand by 2015.
Du Fan, a Nissan China spokesperson, told Reuters in a separate report that the car will be named e30, with the company to begin pilot programs to test the vehicle before it enters regular production next year in 15 Chinese cities.
Venucia currently offers two models in China, the low-cost D50 and R50.
TOYOTA CHINA CONCEPTS 
