Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (SFTM), a joint company formed with the China FAW Group Corp., initiated production of the Toyota "Prius" hybrid vehicle on December 15, 2005. Production is underway at Chanchun Fengyue Co., an SFTM branch. The Prius became the first hybrid vehicle manufactured in China under China's national hybrid vehicle certification system, which came into effect on October 1, 2005. This is also the first time that Toyota has ever manufactured any hybrid vehicles outside of Japan. The Prius will be priced in China at 288,000 Chinese yuan ($ 35,500). With China's booming economy the demand for four wheelers has never been more. China is the second largest emitter of Green house gases after the United States.

Toyota plans to start accepting orders over the Internet in advance from December 16, 2005, and has set a sales target of 3,000 units for 2006.