Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and China FAW Group Corporation (FAW) have established a joint venture to manufacture engines in Changchun City, Jilin Province, China.
FAW Toyota Changchun Engine Co., Ltd. (FTCE) will have an annual capacity of 130,000 engines and will commence production of three-litre V6 petrol engines at the beginning of 2005.
After signing a joint agreement in August 2002, TMC and FAW have been steadily moving forward in their collaborative efforts regarding automotive operations in China. The two companies signed an agreement in April 2003 regarding the joint production of four vehicle models and technology transfer. So far, the Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser Prado (Colorado) SUVs and Corolla passenger car have already begun production.
FTCE will produce engines for the Crown luxury sedan, which is to be made at Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (TFTM).
FTCE is capitalised at $US84,540,000 (about 10 billion yen), with both TMC and FAW each providing 50% of the equity. Jin Yi (vice president, FAW) will be chairman, and Masami Yamada (project general manager, China division, TMC) is to be FTCE’s president.
The news came a month after Toyota and Guangzhou Auto Group Corp. held a ground-breaking ceremony in China at the site of a new joint venture factory to produce car engines.
Based in Guangzhou, that joint venture is scheduled to start building 25,000 2.4-litre engines for export to Japan in 2005 and will ultimately have an annual capacity of 300,000 units.
