TOYOTA CONDUCTS OPENING CEREMONY FOR EUROPEAN PARTS CENTER

Toyota City―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION announced that its European subsidiary, Toyota Motor Europe & Engineering S.A. (TMME), held an opening ceremony today for the new Toyota Parts Center Europe. The event was attended by officials of the Belgian government and other guests, including the Japanese ambassador to Belgium, Junpei Kato.

Located in Diest, Belgium, about 60km northeast of Brussels, the 1.8-billion Belgian franc (approximately ¥6 billion) facility began operations in January. It employs a work force of 120 people and features state-of-the art warehouse equipment and a computer-based ordering system. The center is responsible for all ordering and distribution of replacement parts and accessories for Toyota's European distributors, simplifying the order procedure and significantly shortening lead times.

The center also handles service parts for the Carina E produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing (U.K.) Ltd. (TMUK) and for pickup trucks, which are produced jointly with Volkswagen AG of Germany. TMME intends to continue expanding its cooperative relationships with European suppliers through the expansion of local parts purchasing.