Feb. 24, 1995

Toyota to Establish New Forklift-Production
Joint Venture in France

 

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (TAL), TMC, and Manitou B.F. (a leading French maker of rough terrain forklifts) signed a contract on February 23 (French local time) to establish a new joint-venture manufacturing company for the production of forklifts in France. The new company will be called Toyota Industrial Equipment, S.A. (TIESA).

The equity-participation breakdown for the new venture is as follows: 52.8% by TAL, 34.0% by Manitou, and 13.2% by TMC. TIESA will be located in Mesanger, Loire-Atlantique, France, and production start-up is targeted for mid 1996. TIESA will, at first, produce electric-powered forklifts and later add internal-combustion powered models.

Under a technical-assistance contract with TAL and TMC,
Manitou currently produces Toyota-brand internal-combustion powered forklifts. The decision to establish the joint venture was made to reinforce technical cooperation among the three companies.

Outline of TIESA

  1. Company name
    Toyota Industrial Equipment, S.A.
  2. Establishment
    Procedure to be completed in April 1995
  3. Location
    Mésanger, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France
  4. Capital
    FFr 60 million (approx. ¥1.1 billion)
  5. Equity share
    TAL52.8%
    Manitou34.0%
    TMC13.2%
  6. Plant scale
    70,000m2 site area 13,000m2 building area
  7. Employees
    Approx. 100
  8. Production start
    Mid 1996
  9. Total capacity
    About 4,000 units a year (1997)
  10. Product line-up
    1.0t-3.0t electric forklifts
    1.6t-3.0t four-wheel electric forklifts
    1.0t-1.5t three-wheel electric forklifts

ReferenceOutline of Manitou B.F.

  1. Company name
    Manitou B.F.
  2. Location
    Ancenis, France
  3. President
    Mr. Marcel Braud
  4. Capital
    FFr 47 million (approx. ¥850 million)
  5. Annual sales
    FFr 1 billion (approx. ¥18 billion) in 1993
  6. Employees
    Approx. 800
  7. Product line
    Rough terrain forklifts and Toyota forklifts
  8. Forklift production
    Manitou signed a contract with TAL and TMC for technical assistance in 1987, and started production of 1.0t-3.0t internal-combustion forklifts under the Toyota brand name.