Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. Agree to Transfer Van Business to Toyota Auto BodyAgreement strengthens Toyota's capabilities to build high quality and reasonably priced vans while reacting rapidly to market needs

Toyota City, Japan, November 28, 2018―Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. (Toyota Auto Body) have agreed to completely transfer Toyota's van¹ planning, development, and production business to Toyota Auto Body. This agreement came into effect this November and replaces the previous outsourcing arrangement. This decision will enable both companies to accelerate efforts to speed up decision making, reduce the amount of work hours required for development, and lower costs, thereby further strengthening the competitiveness of Toyota and Toyota Auto Body's van business.

Toyota Auto Body was established in 1945 as a company specializing in the manufacture of truck bodies after Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (the forerunner of today's Toyota Motor Corporation) decided to spin-off its Kariya Plant. Since then, it has expanded into a full-scale manufacturer of completed vehicles, taking on the development and production of such models as the Hiace, Land Cruiser, and Coaster, playing a role at the heart of Toyota's van, SUV, and commercial vehicle business. From 2000, Toyota Auto Body began developing and producing minivans, a rapidly expanding key segment of the Japanese vehicle market. By 2017, annual minivan production at Toyota Auto Body had grown steadily to around 700,000 units.

In April 2016, Toyota introduced the in-house company system, which created a number of unified product groups charged with integrating the planning, development, and manufacture of different products. These in-house companies included the CV Company, which is in charge of vans and body-on-frame SUVs². Toyota Auto Body continued its development and production work as a member of the CV Company, while working closely with Toyota to change and improve its working practices and build ever-better vehicles.

Subsequently, in January 2018, Toyota Auto Body became responsible for new product planning within the van business, thereby adding the planning function to its existing organization and creating an integrated framework encompassing the planning, development, and production of van-type models.

Taking the opportunity of this agreement, Toyota Auto Body intends to utilize its extensive knowledge of the van business to achieve further cost reductions, while upholding the common objectives of the CV Company. Toyota Auto Body will also continue to make every effort to build ever-better vehicles as a specialist and independent automaker. It is focused on listening closely to the needs of customers around the world, speedily delivering vehicles that bring a smile to their faces.

The CV Company will continue to strengthen its efforts to build ever-better vehicles by utilizing and maximizing the strengths of both companies in their respective specialist fields.