Toyota is likely to aim to farm out some 100,000 of its annual vehicle production in the United States to Fuji Heavy Industries, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday, according to Kyodo News.
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The report said Toyota will build an assembly line at Fuji Heavy’s factory to build Toyota vehicles from 2007.
Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe and Fuji president Kyoji Takenaka reportedly will hold talks on 5 December to work out details – the first top-level talks between the two automakers since they announced last month that Toyota will become the largest shareholder in Fuji by acquiring an 8.7% stake from General Motors.
The Toyota vehicle assembly line will be installed at Fuji’s wholly owned manufacturing unit in Indiana, the report said, adding that Toyota will not make a capital participation in the Fuji unit.
There are currently five to six candidate models, and the number of models to be turned out at the Fuji factory will gradually be increased, the report said, according to Kyodo News.
The Indiana factory was originally built as a joint venture between Fuji and Isuzu and built both automakers’ models for the US.
Isuzu sold its share of the plant to Fuji some time ago and now re-badges US-built General Motors SUVs to sell under its own brand in the country.
