Toyota Secures Approval for Joint Production in China
All-new Models Aimed at 2002 Line-off; Tech Support Plan Also OK'd

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) is only a formality away from official permission to jointly build passenger cars in China, as the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation has approved a coproduction agreement between TMC and Tianjin Automobile Xiali Corporation Ltd. (Tianjin Xiali), TMC said today. All that remains is for Tianjin Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (Tianjin Toyota)―the tentative name of the soon-to-start joint venture―to be registered with China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

Under their agreement signed earlier this year, TMC and Tianjin Xiali, a subsidiary of Tianjin Automotive Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. (Tianjin Automotive), plan for Tianjin Toyota to manufacture up to 30,000 compact cars annually. Production at the new company, in which total investment will amount to approximately US$100 million, is scheduled to start in 2002. The all-new models to be built will use the same platform as the Vitz and Platz (also known as the Yaris and Echo), which are representative of TMC's new generation of compact cars. They will be sold bearing the Toyota marque.

Liu Qingmao (chairman of Tianjin Xiali) will serve as chairman of Tianjin Toyota; Takashi Hasegawa (a project general manager of TMC's China Division) will be the company's president.

TMC Technical Support Plan Also Gets Green Light

Also today, the Chinese government approved a plan by TMC to provide technical support to Tianjin Xiali that will help the company introduce a redesigned model. Tianjin Xiali, after receiving know-how assistance from Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. starting in 1987, makes the compact Xiali (known as the Charade in Japan, where it was first manufactured under that name by Daihatsu).

The TMC technical support plan outlines the production, starting early next year, of a redesigned Xiali to be based on the Platz/Vitz. With continuation of the current Xiali, annual output at Tianjin Xiali will be 120,000 units. The new Xiali, like the present model, is to be marketed under the Tianjin Automotive brand.