Toyota Officially Inaugurates Diesel Engine Plant in Poland

Tokyo ― TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) and TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION (TICO) announced today that Toyota Motor Industries Poland (TMIP), owned by Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing Europe S.A./N.V. (TMEM) and TICO, held an official inauguration ceremony for and at its new diesel engine plant in Jelcz-Laskowice, 25 kilometers southeast of Poland's fourth-largest city of Wroclaw.

Established in October 2002, TMIP has been producing a new, 2.2-liter diesel engine at the plant since March 21. The event marked the first time the public and the media were able to visit TMIP's plant, and approximately 300 people, including the Poland Minister of Economic Affairs and Labor Jacek Piechota, Japanese Ambassador to Poland Masaaki Ono, TMC Executive Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi and TICO President Tetsuro Toyoda, among others, attended.

At the ceremony, TMC and TICO jointly presented Jelcz-Laskowice with a Hiace ambulance worth 200,000 Polish zloty (approximately 6 million yen) to contribute to an emergency-response system in the city, helping the city meet the needs of its recent development, made possible through business expansion and other factors.

TMIP, in which a total of 200 million euros has been invested, has an annual production capacity of 180,000 units. Its diesel engines are installed in the Avensis produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. (TMUK) and the Corolla Verso produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey Inc. (TMMT). Plans call for diesel engines to be provided for the Corolla sedan produced in Europe in the future. Currently, TMIP has 670 employees, a number that is expected to increase to 900 in 2006.