Toyota will raise output at its Thai plant by 69% to 350,000 vehicles a year in 2005, as the company plans to raise its truck and sport-utility vehicle exports from Thailand, Toyota Motor Thailand president Ryoichi Sasaki told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday.
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Sasaki reportedly said the capacity increase is part of the parent firm’s plan to establish a new global supply system under its so-called International Multi-Purpose Vehicle project.
“As the IMV project will fully start in 2005, we will export more pick-up trucks and SUVs,” Sasaki told Dow Jones at a press briefing.
Toyota produced 207,512 vehicles in Thailand in 2003, 27,382 of which were exported and mainly consisted of sedan cars, according to the report.
Sasaki reportedly said around 100,000 units of the planned 350,000 will be bound for export in 2005, while the rest will be sold domestically. In 2004, Toyota plans to produce around 260,000 vehicles, he added.
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By GlobalDataAccording to Dow Jones, Toyota expects to sell 220,000 cars and trucks in Thailand this year, up 16.6% from last year – in 2003, Toyota Thailand posted 45.1% year on year growth.
“This year the sales growth may be slower, as the market is adjusting itself for a more stable growth,” Sasaki reportedly said as he predicted total sales of Thailand’s auto industry will rise by 10.7% to 590,000 units in 2004, compared with a 30.2% growth last year.
For its 2004 exports, Toyota Thailand is targeting revenue of 15 billion baht ($US38.4 million) from sales of 43,000 cars and trucks, and another THB15 billion worth of car parts to foreign countries, the report said.
Last year, it recorded THB23.31 billion in export revenues, which was made up of THB9.68 billion from sales of 27,382 units of cars and trucks and THB13.63 billion from car parts, Dow Jones said.
Dow Jones noted that, in 2002, Toyota announced its IMV project under which Toyota Motor Corp. and its parts and component suppliers would invest more than THB30 billion to make Thailand its global production base for pickup trucks, diesel engines and multipurpose vehicles.
