'Tacoma' Line-off Ceremony Held at U.S. Texas Plant

Texas, United States, August 6, 2010―Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX), TMC's vehicle manufacturing company here, held a line-off ceremony today to mark the start of production of the "Tacoma" mid-size pickup truck.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, TMC Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi and TMMTX President Chris Nielsen attended the ceremony. In his speech, Niimi thanked the City of San Antonio for their support, expressed his appreciation for the patience and flexibility displayed by the plant's suppliers, and extended a special thank-you to the plant's team members: "Tacoma production became possible here because of your resilience and commitment over the last two years." TMMTX President Chris Nielsen declared: "One of our top priorities is to show our commitment to the City of Antonio by hiring and investing in local jobs."

The introduction of Tacoma production at TMMMX has created approximately 1,000 jobs and represents an investment of approximately 100 million U.S. dollars, bringing the total number of employees at TMMTX to approximately 2,800 and the total investment to approximately 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. The Tacoma, launched in North America in 1995, has achieved cumulative sales of approximately 2.4 million units to date.

A review of Toyota's North American production system in July 2008 led to optimization measures that included relocating "Tundra" full-size pickup production from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana to TMMTX.

Going forward, TMC is committed to further strengthening the ability of its production system to respond flexibly to changing market demand for the long term by integrating development, procurement, production and sales―based on the concept of producing vehicles where the demand exists―thus ensuring a globally stable supply of products.