tokyo toyota will strengthen its development of electric vehicle technology in china the automaker said on monday as it looks to catch up with increasingly tough domestic competition in the worlds largest auto market the move is the latest from the worlds top selling carmaker that shows a sharper pivot to electric vehicles it recently detailed an ambitious new ev strategy that includes an overhaul of its supply chain and the development of longrange batteries china once seen as an opportunity for potentially limitless growth for foreign automakers is now regarded as a increasingly competitive market thanks to the rise of fastmoving local companies toyota said on monday it would accelerate powertrain development with suppliers denso and aisin as well as local design and development of smart cockpits that meet the needs of the chinese marketaudi q8 etron interior review high on space comfort toi auto it said it would aim to significantly reduce manufacturing costs including through developing a local supplier base to become more competitive it will strengthen development of batterypowered vehicles plugin hybrids hybrids and fuel cell cars in china in order to achieve carbon neutrality through a multipathwaybased approach it said