Toyota Motor Corp is likely to delay building its premium Lexus brand in China for at least a few years, as growth in China’s auto market slows and a weak yen makes it cheaper to keep making cars in Japan. Toyota wants to focus on strengthening the Lexus brand in China and increasing sales in the country to well above 100,000 vehicles a year before investing what could be hundreds of millions of dollars if it was to build a new assembly line, two company executives told Reuters. The Japanese firm is also reluctant to share control of the Lexus business with a domestic joint venture partner – a requirement for foreign carmakers building and selling vehicles in China. Toyota wants to make Lexus a “more well-recognized name” in China before committing to production in the country. China’s auto market has been slowing down significantly to a growth rate of just 1.4% in the first half of this year. Rivals such as Nissan’s Infiniti, Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors’ Cadillac however have decided to go ahead with plans to begin production in China.