BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Bolstering the Dealer Network in ChinaToyota Tsusho proceeded to bolster its networkof dealers in China to address the increasing needsof a country that had entered the age of full-scalemotorization. In April 2002, Toyota Tsusho added athird company to its dealer network, consisting at thattime of Jiangmen Toyota Co., Ltd. (in Jiangmen City)and Harbin Toyota Hirotoyo Service, Ltd. (in HarbinCity). This third company was Guangzhou HuatongToyota Motor Service Co., Ltd. (in Guangzhou City), acompany that served as both a dealer and parts supplycenter. Toyota Tsusho also used Guangzhou HuatongToyota Motor Service to sell and service automobiles asa dealer with close connections to the area and as a centerto supply spare parts to the south of China. In October2002, the first Toyota Tsusho dealer convention was heldin Beijing. Five years later, in December 2007, ToyotaTsusho acquired the car parts shop Apollo AutomobileService Co., Ltd., through the Toyota Tsusho whollyowned subsidiary Toyota Tsusho Auto Service Co., Ltd.,as a dealer-related business. This company would laterbecome the No. 1 car parts shop in China. Following this,Toyota Tsusho also moved into the used car distributionbusiness.Expanding Sales of Machine Tools and IndustrialVehiclesAs China’s economic growth continued, demand forindustrial vehicles began to increase. Toyota Tsushodecided to focus on expanding its business in this field. InApril 2003, Toyota Tsusho established Toyoda Machinery(Dalian) Co., Ltd., a machine tool sales and servicingcompany, as a joint venture with Toyoda Machine Works,Ltd., and the new company began operations upgrading,servicing, and maintaining machine tools. Then, inDecember of the same year, to respond to the rapidgrowth of the construction machinery market, ToyotaTsusho joined with Kobelco Construction MachineryCo., Ltd., and a local investment company in establishinga construction machinery manufacturer, HangzhouKobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. Productioncommenced in March 2004.In November of the same year, Toyota Tsusho startedmanufacturing forklifts in China in cooperation withToyota Industries Corp. After establishment of ToyotaIndustry (Kunshan) Co., Ltd., in which Toyota Tsushohad a 5% stake, Toyota Material Handling (Shanghai)Co., Ltd., was established in April 2003 to strengthen thesystem for manufacturing and selling high-end forklifts.Launching of Resource Recovery and ReuseBusinessesIn February 2004, Toyota Tsusho set up TianjinToyotsu Resource Management Co., Ltd. (TTRM), tocollect and sell scrap metal, such as iron and nonferrousmetals. As part of the Toyota Group’s steel scrap tomold recycling scheme, the Steel Materials Departmentcollected scrap iron produced by the pressing process ofTianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (TFTM), appliedspecial processing to it, and sold it to a Toyota Groupfoundry as molding material.In December 2013, Toyota Tsusho, together withShowa Metal Co., Ltd., invested in Beijing Borui-Liantong Auto Recycling Tech Co., Ltd., and entered thebusiness of dismantling end-of-life vehicles (ELV). InFebruary 2014, the companies set up their own vehicledismantling factory. This was followed in October2018 by the establishment of a proper processingbusiness of ELVs in Dalian. The catalyst for this wasthe announcement by TMC of the Toyota Global 100Dismantlers Project, an initiative that formed part of theToyota Environmental Challenge 2050. Toyota Tsusho’sdismantling plants in Beijing and Dalian subsequentlybecame the first and second model dismantling plants asdefined in this TMC vision.Building a Logistics System in ChinaIn December 2003, Toyota Tsusho established acompany to transport automobiles by sea, ShenzhenChanghang Fenghai Automobile Logistics Co., Ltd.,as a joint venture with Toyofuji Shipping Co., Ltd.,and Shenzhen Changhang Industrial Development Co.,Vehicle dismantling business in ChinaGAC Toyota Tsusho Logistics, Ltd.154