Toyota Motor is investing US$689m to build an R&D centre in Changshu, Jiangsu province. When built, it will be the Japanese carmaker’s sixth and largest R&D centre worldwide.

The centre will cover an area of 2.34m sq metres, and it will employ 1,000 R&D workers. It will be the first time that the carmaker has moved its most modern technology overseas, according to China Knowledge.

Toyota sold 846,000 cars in China in 2010, representing a 19 per cent year-on-year increase.