Toyota to expand plants in RP

Toyota to expand plants in RP

MANILA: Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-biggest carmaker by production, plans to spend 7 billion pesos (US$124 million) in the next two years to expand its facility in the Philippines.

Shoichiro Toyoda, honorary chairman at Toyota Motor, said the investment will help unit Toyota Autoparts Philippines Inc. meet higher overseas demand for the transmission assemblies and constant velocity joints that it makes.

Toyoda was speaking on the sidelines of an event at Toyota Autoparts' plant outside Manila to mark the start of shipments of transmission assemblies to Japan, expanding its export markets which include Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and Pakistan. Its constant velocity joints are exported to Thailand, Taiwan and Japan.

Toyota had invested 15 billion pesos in the Philippines as of the end of 2003. -- Bloomberg