Aichi, Japan, December 2, 2004 - Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. announced today the establishment of two new subsidiaries in China. Toyoda Gosei (Zhangjiangang) Co., Ltd. was set up in the Yangtze River International Industrial Park in Zhangjiangang, Jiangsu Province in October 2003. Initially the company is to produce die-cast frames inside automotive steering wheels and ship them to Toyoda Gosei’s plants in Japan for assembly. The establishment of TG Zhangjiangang will help solve the immediate problem of low capacity in Japan’s die-casting operations, as well as provide sales opportunities for safety systems components to Japanese car manufacturers operating in China.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Toyoda Gosei, the firm was funded with capital of US $12 million (about 1.3 billion yen) to set up the 11,000 m2 manufacturing plant on a 90,000 m2 site for die-casting processes. Four chief executives have been appointed to start up the new operations. The plant is slated to go into operation in August 2004, employing approximately 100. The new company projects it will expand to 400 employees with sales reaching 2.2 billion yen in 2006.
In November 2003, Toyota Gosei (Zhangjiangang) Plastic Parts Co., Ltd. was established in the same industrial park. With capital of US $9 million (one billion yen), 90 percent of which was contributed by Toyoda Gosei and 10 percent by Kanto Kasei Co., Ltd., the new plastic parts company is scheduled to finish set up in its 10,000 m² factory on 90,000 m² land for full-fledged plastic parts production including the plate finishing process by January 2005. It will enhance Toyoda Gosei’s production capacities and supply networks in China and help expand sales to Japanese carmakers there. Four chief executives have been assigned to take on responsibilities for the start-up. The new company plans to initially employ 35, with 95 by 2006 when sales are projected to reach 1.1 billion yen.