Toyota Celebrates 500,000th Vehicle in Turkiye

Toyota today celebrated the production of the 500,000th vehicle manufactured at its plant in Adapazari, Turkiye. The Corolla Verso rolled off Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkiye’s (TMMT) line in front of a gathering of representatives from government, local communities, suppliers and Toyota executives from Japan and Europe. TMMT, which was Turkiye’s leading exporter in 2004, manufactures the Toyota Corolla Verso, Sedan and Wagon models with a maximum annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. TMMT employs some 3,500 people and represents an investment of €730 million.
 
Mr. Shinichi Sasaki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor Europe said: “Toyota is headed for continued growth in Europe and with the support of our expanding production base we aim to provide our customers with both superior quality products and services. I would like to warmly congratulate TMMT on their 500,000-unit production milestone!”
 
Mr. Kazuhiro Kobayashi, President and Chief Executive Officer of TMMT added: “Today’s achievement has been made possible thanks to the joint efforts of our employees, suppliers and business partners. I would like to thank all those involved for their hard work and dedication.”
 
TMMT expects to export approximately 140,000 vehicles to Europe in 2005, with an export value of some US$2.2 billion – making TMMT Turkiye’s leading exporter for 2005.
 
For 2005, Toyota plans to produce 635,000 cars, 541,000 engines and 259,000 transmissions in Europe and sell 980,000 vehicles – which would mark the company’s eighth consecutive year of record sales. Toyota currently has eight manufacturing plants in six countries across Europe.