Three Toyota Group Parts Makers To Merge

TOKYO October 3, 2003; Dow Jones reported that three auto interior parts makers belonging to the Toyota Motor Corp. group said Friday they will merge in October 2004 to strengthen their competitiveness and product development capabilities.

Toyoda Boshoku Corp., a listed affiliate of Toyota, will merge with TakaNichi Co. and the interior parts-making division of Araco Corp. Those two companies are both Toyota subsidiaries.

The merger will create a parts maker with annual sales of around Y400 billion and more than 8,000 employees. Toyoda Boshoku will be the surviving entity.

Araco's auto body production division will merge with another Toyota unit, Toyota Auto Body Co. also in October 2004.

In the fiscal year that ended in March, Araco's auto body division generated parent-based sales of Y202.36 billion and a pretax profit of Y6.71 billion.