Toyota is consolidating its R&D resources in China to increase its bet on electric vehicles (EVs), at a time when Japanese carmakers are generally lagging behind in the world's largest EV market.

As China's EV market continues to expand, Toyota has decided to further intensify local research and development of smart, electric technologies to offer competitive products to Chinese customers.

Toyota listed several initiatives, including renaming its R&D bases in China, integrating R&D resources from joint ventures, and betting on autonomous driving technology.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) Co Ltd (TMEC), Toyota's largest R&D base in China, will be officially renamed Intelligent ElectroMobility R&D Center by Toyota (China) Co Ltd (IEM by Toyota) on August 1.

Engineers from the R&D centers of Toyota's three joint ventures in China -- FAW Toyota, GAC Toyota and BYD Toyota -- will join the IEM by Toyota-led R&D programs, the automaker said.

Toyota will intensify local R&D of EVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs), it said.

In addition, Denso, the supplier with which Toyota works most closely, and Toyota subsidiary Aisin will also participate in IEM by Toyota's R&D activities to accelerate the development of electric powertrains, Toyota said.