In June, NEV penetration rate was 58.8 percent for China's local car brands, 30.9 percent for luxury brands and just 3.7 percent for mainstream joint venture brands.

Toyota's JV with GAC cuts about 1,000 jobs as Japanese carmakers fall behind in China's EV sector.

As China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector grows rapidly, Japanese automakers that have failed to offer any competitive products are facing more difficulties here.

Toyota's joint venture with GAC Group,GAC Toyota, has terminated the contracts of about 1,000 dispatched workers early and offered them compensation. The affected workers were employed by labor service companies and sent to work at a plant in the southern city of Guangzhou.

In light of recent production levels, GAC Toyota has prematurely terminated the contracts of about 1,000 workers with the labor companies.

Established on September 1, 2004, with GAC and Toyota each contributing 50 percent, GAC Toyota had 19,000 employees at the end of June and a standard annual production capacity of 1 million vehicles.

The situation facing GAC Toyota reflects a common problem for mainstream joint ventures in China -- the lack of competitive EV models at a time when sales growth of traditional fuel vehicles has slowed down significantly.