May. 11, 2005
Toyota Inaugurates R&D Base in Thailand
Tokyo ― TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced that Toyota Technical Center Asia Pacific (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (TTCAP-TH) held a ceremony today to mark its official start of operations. TTCAP-TH follows Toyota Technical Center Asia Pacific Australia Pty. Ltd. (TTCAP-AU), which began operations in March, as an R&D base created to better respond to the diversifying and ever-more-sophisticated needs of the growing markets in Asia and Oceania.
With the addition of TTCAP-TH, TMC now conducts body and major component design and evaluation at R&D facilities in five major market regions-Asia, North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. TTCAP-TH will function similar to R&D bases in North America and Europe, taking platforms and base models developed in Japan and modifying the specifications and body to reflect the tastes of Asian markets.
| Company name | Toyota Technical Center Asia Pacific (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (TTCAP-TH) |
| Location | Samut Prakan Province, Thailand |
| Capitalization | 1.1 billion baht (3 billion yen) |
| Ownership | TMC 100% |
| Top executives | Chairman: Tadashi Yamashina (TMC Managing Officer) President: Eichi Omura |
| Field of business | Vehicle and related development |
| Site area | 320,000 m2 |
| Investment | Approx. 2.6 billion baht (approx. 7.3 billion yen*) |
| Date of establishment | August 2003 |
| Start of operations | April 2005 |
| Number of employees | Approx. 290 (as of May 2005) |
*baht = 2.8 yen
