GAC to replace FAW in the FAW Toyota JV The Guangzhou-based automaker GAC announced plans to acquire a 50% equity stake in the FAW Toyota joint venture, replacing FAW. The goal is to streamline the brand’s operations in China. On September 28, GAC officials shared that it intends to acquire the 50% stake in FAW Toyota, following previous reports about the GAC & FAW consolidation. The stake GAC is looking for is currently held by China FAW Group Corporation. This means GAC will replace FAW in the FAW Toyota JV. We will remind you that GAC also runs the GAC Toyota joint venture in China. For a long time, FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota have been operating in different regions across China. However, their model lines were seemingly overlapping. There are a lot of twin models with the Toyota badge in the Middle Kingdom. The most representative example is the FAW Toyota Rav4 and the GAC Toyota Wildlander. The FAW Toyota Rav4 (on the left) and the GAC Toyota Wildlander According to China EV DataTracker, GAC Toyota delivered 446,591 cars from January to August 2026, down 10% Year-Over-Year. The FAW Toyota JV delivered 378,872 units in the same period, with sales sliding 26.6% Y-O-Y. The mentioned decline is caused by the shrinkage of the market share of petrol-powered cars in China. As a result, Toyota decided to shift strategy to streamline operations and coordinate R&D, supply chains, and marketing. It was said in the GAC filings that this project is intended to deepen the strategic cooperation between FAW and GAC. Despite being excluded from the joint venture, FAW will become the GAC’s second-largest shareholder. Previously, a lot of China’s high ranks said that the consolidation of the automotive industry is inevitable due to the intensifying competition and shifts of demand. It is worth noting that Toyota plans to produce around 200,000 EREVs in China in 2027, aggressively expanding the NEV segment.