Toyota to Double R&D Budget in European Market
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 954
Likes: 0
From: Texas
Toyota to Double R&D Budget in European Market
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentSe...=1012571727114
Toyota to more than double research efforts
Toyota is to more than double its European research and development budget as the Japanese carmaker tries to produce vehicles more tailored to European tastes.
The world's second-biggest vehicle manufacturer will spend €75m on new buildings at its development centre in Belgium and recruit 200 engineers, taking the workforce to 350.
The investment will allow Toyota to develop core parts of a vehicle in Europe for the first time, underlining its hopes of growth in the region.
The group reached its target of selling 800,000 vehicles annually in Europe last year, two years early, and hopes to increase that by 50 per cent by 2010, to 1.2m - more than Citroën and close to Ford and Opel.
Akihiko Saito, executive vice-president for vehicle development, said: "Toyota's new investment in its R&D centre not only shows the importance we attach to R&D. It also shows the importance we place on Europe and our intention to continue to develop, design and build cars in Europe for Europeans."
Toyota has been leading the Japanese race into Europe after its first car developed specifically for Europe - the Yaris hatchback - proved a success.
Since setting up a new factory in Valenciennes, France, in 1999 to build the Yaris, Toyota has expanded its factories in both France and the UK by adding third shifts and building a new Czech plant jointly with PSA-Peugeot Citroën of France.
It has also spent heavily on researching modern diesel engines in order to attract more European customers, 42 per cent of whom now demand diesels.
But perhaps its most significant attempt to appeal to fashion-conscious European buyers has been to set up a dedicated design centre for the region, ED, located in Sofia Antipolis, southern France.
The company believes Europeans want different performance and features from their cars and that these need to be developed locally.
Other Japanese manufacturers have taken a similar view, with Mazda, Honda and Mitsubishi - as well as South Korea's Hyundai - having design centres near Frankfurt, while Nissan recently opened a large design office in London. Yet all the companies are reliant on Japan for most of their core engineering.
Japanese manufacturers are growing strongly in western Europe, with sales rising 9 per cent last year in a market that fell 1.3 per cent.
Between them they had 12.7 per cent of the market last year, and in January this year grew by 20 per cent to take a record 14.1 per cent share.
----
Toyota is the world's #3 automaker though.
Toyota to more than double research efforts
Toyota is to more than double its European research and development budget as the Japanese carmaker tries to produce vehicles more tailored to European tastes.
The world's second-biggest vehicle manufacturer will spend €75m on new buildings at its development centre in Belgium and recruit 200 engineers, taking the workforce to 350.
The investment will allow Toyota to develop core parts of a vehicle in Europe for the first time, underlining its hopes of growth in the region.
The group reached its target of selling 800,000 vehicles annually in Europe last year, two years early, and hopes to increase that by 50 per cent by 2010, to 1.2m - more than Citroën and close to Ford and Opel.
Akihiko Saito, executive vice-president for vehicle development, said: "Toyota's new investment in its R&D centre not only shows the importance we attach to R&D. It also shows the importance we place on Europe and our intention to continue to develop, design and build cars in Europe for Europeans."
Toyota has been leading the Japanese race into Europe after its first car developed specifically for Europe - the Yaris hatchback - proved a success.
Since setting up a new factory in Valenciennes, France, in 1999 to build the Yaris, Toyota has expanded its factories in both France and the UK by adding third shifts and building a new Czech plant jointly with PSA-Peugeot Citroën of France.
It has also spent heavily on researching modern diesel engines in order to attract more European customers, 42 per cent of whom now demand diesels.
But perhaps its most significant attempt to appeal to fashion-conscious European buyers has been to set up a dedicated design centre for the region, ED, located in Sofia Antipolis, southern France.
The company believes Europeans want different performance and features from their cars and that these need to be developed locally.
Other Japanese manufacturers have taken a similar view, with Mazda, Honda and Mitsubishi - as well as South Korea's Hyundai - having design centres near Frankfurt, while Nissan recently opened a large design office in London. Yet all the companies are reliant on Japan for most of their core engineering.
Japanese manufacturers are growing strongly in western Europe, with sales rising 9 per cent last year in a market that fell 1.3 per cent.
Between them they had 12.7 per cent of the market last year, and in January this year grew by 20 per cent to take a record 14.1 per cent share.
----
Toyota is the world's #3 automaker though.
Last edited by LexusLuver; Mar 2, 2004 at 01:53 PM.
from me for doing this.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Gojirra99
Car Chat
1
May 4, 2005 12:51 PM
