Toyota to End NUMMI Plant Production

28 August, 2009 11:06:00

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Toyota will end its Corolla and Tacoma production contract with New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) on March 31, 2010 and shift production of those vehicles to Toyota wholly-owned facilities.

Following the end of the contract, Tacoma pickups will be produced at Toyota's manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., which specializes in trucks. Corollas will be sourced from its Cambridge, Ontario, Canada plant, as well as Japan to meet near-term demand. This will enable an uninterrupted supply of vehicles to dealers and customers in North America.

Totota Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi, who is responsible for North America, said, "After the decision by General Motors to withdraw from the NUMMI joint venture, Toyota conducted a thorough review of its alternatives in light of current and anticipated market conditions. Based on this review, we have determined that over the mid- to long-term, it just would not be economically viable to continue the production contract with NUMMI. This is most unfortunate, and we deeply regret having to take this action."

NUMMI, based in Fremont, California, was established in 1984 as an independent joint venture of Toyota and General Motors to produce cars for both companies. In May, GM announced its decision to end its contract to produce the Pontiac Vibe at NUMMI, and this production ceased on August 17. In June, as part of GM's bankruptcy reorganization plan, GM's holdings in NUMMI were placed among the assets to be liquidated of the Motors Liquidation Company (or "old GM"). These developments resulted in Toyota's decision to end its production contract with NUMMI next March.

Toyota intends to work collaboratively with Motors Liquidation Company and NUMMI to help NUMMI and all of its affected stakeholders in dealing with the impact of the decisions made by NUMMI's customers.

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