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TOKYO: The president of Toyota was to speak in China on Monday as the embattled company seeks to regain consumer trust in the world's biggest auto market after its massive safety recalls.
The Japanese auto giant said president Akio Toyoda would face the Chinese press at 1000 GMT at a Beijing hotel, days after he apologised to angry US lawmakers in Washington for faulty accelerators blamed for more than 30 deaths.
Toyota's massive global recall of more than eight million vehicles also covered China, where the world's major car makers are competing for a slice of the rapidly growing car market that overtook the United States last year.
Toyota sales in China surged 53 per cent from a year earlier in January, but the massive recalls have already dampened the robust demand, leading Toyota to start discount sales, the Nikkei business daily said. Related article: Toyota can restore reputation, experts say
Toyota has recalled more than 75,000 of its RAV4 sport utility vehicles made in China over faulty accelerator pedals.
Last Friday China's product safety watchdog also warned drivers of imported Toyotas there to have their cars - including the Tundra, Camry and Corolla models - checked for possible defects.
President Toyoda has just ended his trip to the United States, where he was grilled by US lawmakers about the safety defects and apologised in Congress testimony, before Toyota car dealers and on CNN's Larry King show.
Toyoda, the 53-year-old grandson of the company's founder, vowed to take safety "to the next level," during a meeting Thursday with the head of the US Department of Transportation.
Mamoru Kato, an auto analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Centre, said Toyoda was right to now head to China to deliver a similar message there.
"The recalls in America have been reported a lot in China, worsening Toyota's brand image and fanning consumer worries there," Kato said, adding that the Chinese dealers may already be reporting falling sales figures.
"The press conference is aimed at wiping out the concerns. They need to troubleshoot as China is such a big market."
Toyota has been under fire since January over a rash of defects and its delays in informing the public about them.
The company faces a rash of class action lawsuits that could potentially cost it billions of dollars in the United States, and a possible criminal investigation after a federal grand jury subpoenaed company documents.
At least 34 deaths have been blamed on sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles, according to complaints filed with US authorities.
Toyoda, who took the company reins last June, had shunned appearing publicly for two weeks after the recalls started in the United States but then held three press conferences in Japan before heading overseas.
China's auto sales surged past those in the United States in 2009 to make the Asian population giant the world's biggest car market, according to industry data released in January.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has said more than 13.64 million units were sold last year, a whopping increase of 46.15 per cent from the 9.4 million units sold in 2008, Xinhua news agency reported.
News of the boost in Chinese sales comes as the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association said that Toyota's Japan sales rose 48 per cent year-on-year in February as the iconic carmaker displayed resilience at home despite its massive global safety recalls.
- AFP/yb
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