Toyota Motor Corp. said on Monday the company will continue its car manufacturing joint venture with General Motors Corp. in California even after the bankruptcy filing by the ailing US auto giant.

"We hope to continue for our part," President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters in Tokyo. "The GM side also wants to continue since it is a good factory."

Toyota and GM set up a joint venture in California in 1984.

Embattled General Motors Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, making it the largest no financial bankruptcy in US history.

"It is important that GM works towards an early rehabilitation, which will lead to the development of the auto industry as a whole," Watanabe said.

Toyota became the world's top automaker in terms of sales in 2008, surpassing GM by selling 8.97 million vehicles.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)