Camry production begins in China

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced that Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (GTMC), a joint vehicle production and sales company established with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Automobile) in China in 2004, held a line-off ceremony today for the Toyota Camry ("Kaimeirui" in Chinese) sedan at the company's plant in Guangzhou Nansha, Guangdong, China.

Approximately 1,400 people attended the event, including local and central government officials, Japanese government officials, various suppliers and dealers, media representatives, Guangzhou Automobile Chairman Zhang Fangyou, TMC President Katsuaki Watanabe and GTMC President Toru Kuzuhara and Executive Vice President Yuan Zhongrong.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Kuzuhara made the following remarks on behalf of the company: "We will strive to continually set and achieve high goals without losing sight of the need to approach learning with a sense of modesty. With your help and cooperation we hope to grow and be recognized as a good corporate citizen as soon as possible by the people of Nansha, Guangzhou and indeed all of China. We will work to build a bright, fun and energetic workplace so that we can contribute to further development of society and better lifestyles for all concerned."

This was followed by remarks from Zhang and subsequently from Watanabe, who said: "I firmly believe that the Camry will be just as successful in living up to the expectations of Chinese customers as it has been throughout the rest of the world. Although Toyota already has more than 40 years of experience in China, joining together with Guangzhou Automobile affords us the opportunity to plan even further business development in the country. At the same time, we hope to be able to contribute to the further development of the Chinese automotive industry through such things as sharing Toyota's technology."

The price of the Chinese-built Camry will be from 197,800 Chinese yuan to 269,800 Chinese yuan, with 50,000 units being planned for sale in 2006. Orders are scheduled to start today (May 23).

GTMC was established by Guangzhou Automobile and TMC in September 2004 and is Toyota's first production and sales base in Guangzhou, China's largest automobile market. Today's Camry line-off represents the first vehicle series to be produced by GTMC. The GTMC-built Camry features the AZ engine made by Guangqi Toyota Engine Co., Ltd. (GTE).

As a world-class production plant, GTMC has installed numerous pieces of leading-edge equipment in order to maintain strict quality standards throughout all the processes involved in vehicle production. Furthermore, under a corporate policy of being a "pioneer in environmental preservation and a good corporate citizen in China," the company is also making considerable efforts to keep noise to a minimum, appropriately treat wastewater, recycle waste materials and use environmentally friendly materials. GTMC has also been actively training personnel at its engineering training center, which was established in January 2005.