CORONA SALES BEGIN IN TAIWAN

Toyota City―Sales of TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION'S first Taiwan-built passenger car in 17 years, the Corona, were launched today with a hotel reception in downtown Taipei. The new Corona, built by Toyota's manufacturing affiliate in that country, Kuozui Motors, Ltd., is marketed by Ho Tai Motor Co., Ltd.

Ho Tai is offering the Corona in two styles―a four-door sedan and five-door liftback―both available with a 1600cc or 2000cc engine. The company's initial plans call for sales of about 20,000 units a year.

In addition to the Corona, Ho Tai recently introduced Toyota's ZACE (September 1988), a 1-ton-class commercial vehicle also manufactured by Kuozui, as well as two U.S.-made vehicles, the Camry and Corolla. Sales of the Camry, built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc. in Georgetown, Kentucky, began in February this year, and sales of the Corolla, manufactured at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) in Fremont, California, were initiated in April.

Taiwan's auto market has shown steady growth in recent years, with sales in 1988 up 33.4% to about 378,000 units. Toyota expects that the addition of the Corona to its product lineup there will help the company to further respond to diversified consumer demand.