Governor Perry, Toyota Introduce More On-Site Suppliers in Texas

Investment, Employment Higher Than Earlier Estimates

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 30 -- Employment and investment by on-site suppliers at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) will exceed earlier projections, state and local officials and the company said today. TMMTX and its on-site suppliers together will employ about 4,100 when Tundra production begins late next year.

The suppliers expect to employ 2,100, about 600 more than estimated last December. They will invest approximately $300 million, twice as much as was first reported.

The on-site suppliers can now be more precise about employment and investment as operational plans are finalized. A portion of the increase is due to the addition of three new suppliers for a total of 21 on-site companies.

The three new suppliers include Kautex (fuel tank), MetoKote (E-coater), and Tokai Rika (functional parts).

TMMTX will employ 2,000. The $850 million plant will have the capacity to build 200,000 vehicles annually.

"The Toyota project continues to exceed our expectation by creating more jobs and investing more in our great state," Governor Rick Perry said during an announcement at TMMTX. "This is a direct result of the teamwork by the State of Texas, Bexar County, the City of San Antonio and many other partners with Toyota."

Bexar County and the City of San Antonio teamed up to provide incentives for the suppliers to locate in the area. "There was and continues to be intense competition for Toyota's suppliers, and the County feels very strongly that our return on investment will be much greater than expected," said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

"Toyota continues to prove that it is a world-class company and an incredible asset to the San Antonio community," said San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger. "I am very pleased that Toyota and their suppliers continue to create jobs and add investment into San Antonio's economy. They are great partners for the City of San Antonio."

"As our business partners, the suppliers join us in our huge responsibility to build trucks that provide our customers with the best value for their dollars," said Hidehiko "T.J." Tajima, president of TMMTX. "We are pleased with the addition of these three outstanding companies to our team, and we are grateful for the support from our state and local partners."

Toyota will have the annual capacity to build 1.81 million cars and trucks, 1.44 million engines, and 600,000 automatic transmissions in North America by 2008. The company's direct employment is 38,000 and direct investment is more than $16.3 billion with annual purchasing of parts, materials, good and services from North American suppliers totaling nearly $26 billion. Toyota's North American-produced vehicles are the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra and the Lexus RX330.

  Following is a list of the on-site suppliers.

                                         Minority
                                         Business
  Texas Operation   Joint Venture       Enterprise
       Name           Partners        (MBE) Partners     Commodity/service

  AGC Automotive
   Americas                                              Glass assemblies

  ARK, Inc.                                              Industrial waste
                                                          management,
                                                          recycling

  Avanzar Interior  SAT Auto            Berto Guerra     Seats and interior
   Technologies      Technologies,                        parts
                     Ltd. & Johnson
                     Controls, Inc.

  Curtis-Maruyasu                                        Tubing
   America, Inc.

  Futaba Industrial                                      Stamped parts
   Texas Corp.

  Green Metals, Inc.                                     Scrap steel
                                                          recycling

  HERO Assemblers,  Valiente Intl.      Frank Herrera    Assembly of tire
   LLP               Ventures & TAI                       onto wheel

  HERO Logistics,   Valiente            Frank Herrera    Logistics
   LLP               International
                     Ventures & Toyota
                     Tsusho America (TAI)

  Kautex*                                                Fuel tank

  Metalsa                                                Truck frames

  MetoKote*                                              E-coater

  Millennium Steel  Henry Jackson       Henry Jackson    Steel processing
   Service Texas,    (Millennium Steel
   LLC               Service Indiana)
                     & TAI

  PPG Industries, Inc.                                   Glass assemblies

  Reyes-Amtex       Reyes Industries    Fernando Reyes   Interior parts
                     & Amtex

  Reyes Automotive  Reyes Industries    Fernando Reyes   Interior/exterior
   Group             & Lear                               parts

  Takumi Stamping                                        Stamped parts
   Texas, Inc.

  Tenneco
   Automotive                                            Exhaust systems

  Tokai Rika*                                            Functional parts

  Toyoda-Gosei                                           Interior/exterior
   Texas LLC                                              parts

  Toyotetsu Texas                                        Stamped parts

  Vutex, Inc.       Operational         Max Navarro      Assembly services
                     Technologies
                     Corp. & Vuteq

   * designates new supplier company as of 9/30/05