Japan's Toyota announces EV and battery push in China and U.S., as its quarterly profit surges

Toyota is developing and making electric vehicles and EV batteries in China under a new partnership with the Shanghai government. It's also producing batteries for EVs, hybrids and plug-ins at a new $14 billion facility in North Carolina. Wednesday's announcements highlight Toyota’s aggressive push in electric cars, a sector where some critics have said it’s fallen behind rivals like Tesla and Byd. Toyota is setting up a company in Jinshan District in southwest Shanghai for that effort, with production of the new Lexus EVs starting in 2027. Toyota's quarterly profit jumped 61% from the previous year to 2.19 trillion yen, or $14 billion.