Toyota Celebrates Start of Hilux Exports To Australia from Thailand

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) today announced that it held a commemoration ceremony on Saturday, October 31 to celebrate the start of Hilux exports to Australia. The Hilux is manufactured at Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd. (TMT), Toyota's Thailand vehicle production and sales company.

The ceremony (at 10:00 a.m. local time; 12:00 noon Japan time) at Laem Chabang Seaport on the outskirts of Bangkok, welcomed Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, along with TMC Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda and TMT President Yoshiaki Muramatsu.

TMT has been exporting the Hilux from Thailand to the Philippines, Laos, and Cambodia, but has begun exports to Australia in order to further contribute to Thailand's manufacturing industry. This marks the start of full-scale exports expected to achieve an annual scale of 20,000 units.

TMC also announced that, as an additional step to expand Thai exports, 2L type (2,400cc) and 5L type (3,000cc) diesel engines will be exported to South Africa and India starting in 1999.^* The engines are manufactured at Siam Toyota Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (STM), Toyota's vehicle engine production company in Thailand. The export target is 36,000 units annually.

STM has been exporting 2L type to Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, the Philippines (since this August) and Japan (since last December). With the start of exports to South Africa and India, the production scale is expected to double.