Toyota assisting Chinese program for training automotive maintenance technicians

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it is supporting a Chinese government program for training automotive maintenance technicians by helping to devise the curriculum and by providing various teaching tools. TMC, which agreed with the government in June 2006 to assist the program, made the announcement at a joint ceremony at the Beijing Changping Vocational School.

The Chinese government's program for training automotive maintenance technicians —which focuses not only on theoretical training, but also on practical training—is based on TMC's TEAM 21 (Technical Education for Automotive Mastery for the 21st Century)* educational curriculum for automotive maintenance technology. For the time being, the government plans to introduce the program at 25 vocational schools throughout China, where it is an urgent task to train advanced automotive maintenance technicians who can inspect and repair vehicles as the Chinese automobile market rapidly expands.

In addition to helping to devise the curriculum, TMC will support the program by providing textbooks and teaching materials, supplying vehicles and establishing scholarships for trainees who have potential but face difficulties because of economic or other factors.

Today's ceremony was attended by Liu Zhanshan, director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education within the Chinese Ministry of Education, and by approximately 100 government officials and Toyota representatives. In his opening remarks, TMC Executive Vice President Yoshimi Inaba said, "We are grateful to have this opportunity to contribute to the cultivation of China's human resources by sharing our knowledge of technician training. We hope that all of the technicians who graduate from this program will be able to contribute to the further development of China's automotive industry."

Toyota conducts social contribution activities throughout the world, with a focus on the three areas of human resources development, environmental protection and traffic safety. With regard to human resources development in China, in addition to the training of automotive maintenance technicians, Toyota has also established the Toyota Study Assistance Fund and a research center in collaboration with Tsinghua University. Meanwhile, in order to promote environmental protection, Toyota has created the Toyota Environmental Protection Aid Program for China's Youth and is implementing tree-planting programs to combat desertification. In the area of traffic safety, Toyota is conducting safe-driving events. Toyota aims to be a good corporate citizen and plans to continue its contributions to Chinese society.

*The educational curriculum aims to increase technicians' maintenance skills, including streamlining automotive maintenance work and diagnosing advanced systems, such as those involving a vehicle's computer control system. Since 2002, this curriculum has been in place at all TMC affiliates throughout the world.

Contact: Paul Nolasco/Tomomi Imai 03-3817-9161/9150