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Toyota's North American R&D Base Opens 2nd Campus

JCN Newswires, Oct 10, 2008

Tokyo, Oct 10, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that Toyota Technical Center (TTC), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), has opened a campus in York Township, Michigan, U.S.A. The new campus will handle TTC's product planning and engineering design operations, as well as serve as TMC's first collision-safety testing facility outside Japan.

At a Thursday, October 9 ceremony to officially open the campus, attendees included Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, TMC Senior Managing Director Yasuhiko Ichihashi and TTC President Shigeki Terashi.

TTC, which is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and which has served as TMC's North American vehicle research and development base since 1977, has invested 187 million U.S. dollars in the York Township campus. The campus, for which plans were announced in April 2005, will create a total of 400 additional jobs at TTC by the end of 2010, 300 of which have already been filled.

TTC's Ann Arbor campus will continue to carry out evaluation activities, powertrain design and development, and research into materials and cutting-edge technologies.

With Japan as the center, TMC has established research and development bases in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia to carry out vehicle and parts design, planning and evaluation. TMC intends to continue striving to develop and offer products that suit regional conditions, and to meet the needs of customers all over the world.

TTC York Township Campus

Location York Township, Michigan, U.S.A.

Facilities Engineering design (approx. 33,000 square meters); safety testing(approx. 17,000 square meters)

Site area Approx. 280 hectares

Investment 187 million U.S. dollars

Activities Product planning, engineering design, safety testing

Outline of TTC

Name Toyota Technical Center

Location Ann Arbor and York Township, Michigan, U.S.A.

President Shigeki Terashi

Established June 1977

Activities Product planning, engineering design, testing and evaluation, certification, technology investigation, and advanced research

Employees Approx. 1,000 (as of October 2008; total of approx. 1,100 by end of 2010)

About Toyota

Established in 1937, Toyota Motor Corporation (TSE: 7203; NYSE: TM), which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, has developed into one of the world's best known automobile manufacturers. The Toyota Group sold over 8.5 million vehicles under the Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino brands in more than 170 countries and regions in fiscal 2007. Further, the Company's production is firmly rooted in local communities, with 52 companies manufacturing vehicles and parts in 26 countries and regions. Toyota had approximately 300,000 employees on a consolidated basis at the end of fiscal 2007. The company is headquartered in Aichi, Japan. For more information, please visit www.toyota.co.jp/en/index.html .

Source: Toyota