Toyota to Establish "Toyota Mapmaster Inc."

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today plans to establish a new company to produce car navigation system map databases and provide them to manufacturers of such systems.
Toyota Mapmaster Inc. will be incorporated jointly between TMC, Aisin AW Co., Ltd., Denso Corp., Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd., Zenrin Co., Ltd., and Fujitsu Ten Ltd. on July 28, 1998.

Toyota Mapmaster will be capitalized at ¥480 million, 51% of which will be invested by TMC. The new company's president will be Mr. Arinobu Hiroyama, currently Project General Manager of the ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Planning Division at TMC. The number of personnel initially employed will be approximately 100, including contract employees.

The car navigation system market has been expanding rapidly amid intensifying competition, as manufacturers introduce new models equipped with unique functions. Moreover, the role that car navigation systems play in ITS will become increasingly critical in the future.

Against this backdrop, Toyota Mapmaster will integrate human resources, information, know-how, and other capabilities from among its partner companies, and provide them with higher-function and higher-quality software at low cost. At the same time, a part of each of the investing companies' organizations related to navigation systems will be transferred to the new firm.

In the future, each affiliate company will develop and sell car navigation systems by adding their own unique information to Toyota Mapmaster databases. This will allow reduced development costs and timely information updating. As a result, customers can expect highly-convenient navigation systems being made available in times to come.