The Toyota Motor Corp group plans to build a new car assembly plant in northern Japan to meet brisk demand, news reports said on September 14. Toyota is in the final stages of negotiations to build a 50 billion yen (435 million dollars) auto plant in the Tohoku region in northern Japan, the Nikkei reported in its September 14 evening edition without citing any sources.
Toyota declined to confirm the report. The newspaper said the new plant is part of a plan to move an aging factory in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, and would be the first domestic car plant built by the group in 18 years. Toyota intends to start operations in the fall of 2010, initially producing about 100,000 vehicles annually, the Nikkei said.
A pioneer of eco-friendly hybrids, Toyota has won an especially strong following in the United States, where sky-high prices at the pump have boosted demand for the Japanese firm's fuel efficient vehicles. Toyota is on track to overtake GM as the world number one this year.