Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda are considering a comprehensive tie-up in environmentally-friendly technology amid tightening regulations to cut greenhouse gas and tough emerging market competition, a report said Saturday.

The two companies are in the final stages of talks on the planned partnership, the Nikkei business daily said, adding that the two "intend to reach an accord in principle soon".

Toyota is planning to build a new plant in northern China as the world's top automaker ramps up investment after a two-year freeze, reports said Saturday.

Proposals for the plant in Tianjin -- due to open in 2018 at the earliest with a capacity of 100,000 cars a year -- should be finalised by the summer, Jiji Press and Kyodo News agency reported.

Japanese auto giant Toyota will start selling its first fuel cell sedan this financial year, with a price tag of around 7 million yen ($70,000), the company announced Wednesday.

The vehicles will be rolled out by March and beyond the home market during the summer of 2015, it said, in a move that will see the environmentally friendly cars available in the United States and Europe.

Toyota on Friday said it is recalling about 520,000 vehicles, mostly in North America, over several issues including cable corrosion that could see unused spare tyres fall off. 

The world's biggest automaker made the announcement just days after U.S. rival General Motors said it was recalling 2.4 million more vehicles in the United States.

Toyota said Monday it has suspended production at its two Indian auto assembly plants in response to threats against management and "deliberate" assembly-line stoppages, as efforts to hammer out a labor deal failed.

The world's biggest automaker said the move will see the lock-out of about 6,400 employees at the factories in southern India.

Toyota on Friday unveiled the next generation of cars featuring an auto pilot system that will swerve to avoid collisions and also keep to the middle of the road, all without drivers touching the wheel.

The Japanese giant autos using the self-driving technology could be available on the market in just a few years' time.

Toyota said Wednesday that it expects to sell 9.7 million vehicles globally this year, up 22 percent from 2011 as Japan's biggest automaker accelerates a recovery after last year's natural disasters.

Those figures may put Toyota back in pole position as the world's biggest automaker, ahead of General Motors and Volkswagen.

Toyota on Wednesday announced a global recall of 2.77 million vehicles over water pump or steering problems, in the latest blow to the firm's reputation after a spate of earlier call backs.

Japan's biggest automaker said there were no reported injuries or accidents, but it had received about 400 complaints in Japan over the pump issue and a handful about the steering problem.

Toyota plans to halt production next week at its biggest assembly plant in China, reports said Tuesday, with demand for Japanese cars slumping because of a bitter territorial row between Tokyo and Beijing.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker in the first half of 2012, said it will suspend production for a week starting Monday at its Tianjin FAW plant in the country's northeast, the leading Asahi Shimbun reported.

Japan's Toyota on Wednesday announced a global recall of 7.43 million vehicles, including its popular Camry and Corolla models, over a possible fire risk, in a fresh blow to the firm's reputation for safety.

The country's biggest automaker ordered the recall, which amounts to slightly more vehicles than it sold worldwide in its fiscal year to March, because of a fault with its electric windows.