TOKYO - Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the Japanese maker of Subaru-brand cars, is likely to begin production of cars in China in 2012 to meet demand in the world's fastest growing major economy, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

The automaker will target annual sales of 100,000 units in the country, where industry-wide demand for cars may jump to 20 million units in 2011 from 17 million vehicles this year, said Ikuo Mori, president of the company.

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Fuji Heavy's sales in China rose 66 percent this year through November to 52,039 units. The company is currently the only Japanese carmaker that doesn't build cars in China, the report said.

Car sales in China, the world's largest auto market, are expected to double to 34 million units by 2020, according to researcher J.D. Power and associates.