Jul 1 2005
Toyota Motor Corporation announced today that, as part of its continuing effort to promote localization in North America, it has decided to expand Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (TMMC) by building a second TMMC plant in the area of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
In order to respond to the high demand of SUVs in the North American market, the new plant will build the RAV4 SUV and have a capacity of 100,000 units a year, starting in 2008. Plans include an approximate investment of 800 million Canadian dollars (650 million U.S. dollars) and about 1,300 new jobs.
The project was officially announced during a press conference in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, on June 30 (10:30 a.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. Japan time), in the presence of Federal Minister of Industry David Emerson, Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty, Senior Managing Director of TMC Atsushi Niimi, President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TMMNA) Seiichi Sudo and President of TMMC Ray Tanguay.
TMMC started its operations in November 1988. In 2003, it began production of the RX330 as the first Lexus model ever produced outside of Japan. Currently, TMMC produces the Corolla, Matrix and RX330 at its existing plant in Cambridge, Ontario.
When TMMC's new plant begins operations, Toyota will have an annual production capacity of 1.76 million vehicles in North America (up from the current 1.51 million units).