Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish a wholly-owned electric vehicle (EV) and EV battery plant in Shanghai, in a strategic move to bolster its presence in the world's largest automotive market.

In the strategic cooperation agreement with the Shanghai municipal government, Toyota commits to invest a total of 14.6 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) into the new energy vehicle (NEV) project in Jinshan District, which focuses on the research and development, production and sales of Lexus EVs and EV batteries.

This marks another globally influential NEV project in Shanghai, after Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory. It further demonstrates Shanghai's determination to expand high-level opening-up and accelerate the creation of a world-class NEV industry cluster.