Foreign automakers in China may struggle to dictate sales goals in the future after dealers complained to the government that inflexible targets set during a market boom obliged them to buy too much stock and bear the brunt of a drop in demand. Automakers largely stuck to targets throughout 2014, selling cars to dealers on schedule.
More Chinese cities are expected to follow suit, adding woe to China's already slowing auto market, and increasing pressure on carmakers such as General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG to accelerate expansion in China's less affluent, but less crowded western cities.
Toyota and its two Chinese joint ventures will miss the goal and will sell slightly more than 1 million vehicles in 2015, two company executives told Reuters. Researcher IHS Automotive puts sales at 1.09 million in 2014 and 1.15 million in 2015.
In September, Chinese prosecutors launched a criminal bribery investigation into a former senior executive at FAW Group Corp, a Chinese partner of Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. Dongfeng's shares were not traded on Thursday in Hong Kong due to the Christmas holiday.
