Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has been accepted as a full member of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), effective from January 2008.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“We welcome Toyota Motor Europe in our midst and are convinced TME will make a valuable contribution to the work of our association”, said ACEA president and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne in a statement released after the ACEA board’s regular meeting on Friday.
“ACEA and TME share the same challenges and concerns with regard to EU regulation and our sector’s competitive strength.
“Together we will give even more vigorous input to the on-going process of improving the EU regulatory framework and the ‘better regulation’ agenda of the European Commission.”
“We are very proud to have been accepted as a full member of ACEA”, said TME president Tadashi Arashima.
“We now have an important presence in Europe and so joining the European automotive association was the next logical step. We look forward to working more closely with fellow members on the issues confronting the industry.”
Toyota is the first Japanese automaker to be admitted as an ACEA member. The others are BMW Group, DAF Trucks, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, MAN, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Scania, Volkswagen and Volvo.
Toyota began selling its Crown model in Europe in 1963 and its first European-made vehicle were built under licence in Portugal in 1971.
Today, 70% of the vehicles it sells here are locally made with local content averaging 90%. The company now has 17 European vehicle, engine and transmission manufacturing plants, 28 national sales companies and 2,884 dealers.
TME buys about EUR5bn worth of components from European suppliers annually and expects to sell 1.22bn vehicles here in 2007.
