Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to make 120,000 more cars a year in the Chinese port city of Tianjin as part of a midterm strategy that¡¯s gathering pace as China-Japan ties improve, said four company insiders with knowledge of the matter.

The carmaker¡¯s plan to boost annual production capacity by about a quarter in the city will lay the foundation to increase sales in China to 2 million vehicles per year, a jump of over 50 percent, the four sources said.

The Tianjin expansion signals Toyota¡¯s willingness to start adding significant manufacturing capacity in China with the possibility of one or two new assembly plants in the world¡¯s biggest auto market, the sources said. Car imports also could increase, they said.