Toyota's Opportunity Exchange to Celebrate 17th Year as Top Minority Business Conference

Trade Fair has Generated More than $100 million in Contracts for Minority Suppliers

ERLANGER, KY - November 3, 2006: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) announced that Opportunity Exchange 2006, its annual minority business conference and trade fair, will be held on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati.

Now in its 17th year as a top business forum, TEMA's Opportunity Exchange is designed to provide minority business enterprises (MBEs) across the nation with the chance to network and develop relationships with more than 275 of Toyota's suppliers.

Toyota's Tier I suppliers, those who supply parts directly to Toyota, attend the event as exhibitors for the purpose of doing more business with minority-owned companies. Toyota expects more than 700 MBEs to attend this year's event.

As a result of TEMA's Opportunity Exchange, MBEs have earned more than $100 million worth of new contracts with Toyota's Tier I suppliers since 1990.

"Toyota is thrilled at the prospect of connecting our Tier I suppliers and MBEs across the United States," said Adrienne Trimble, manager of supplier diversity for TEMA. "Opportunity Exchange represents an outstanding business opportunity for all parties and enhances Toyota's philosophy to build vehicles were we sell them."

  Schedule of Events:

   7:00 a.m.             Media Registration/Continental Breakfast
   8:00 a.m.             MBE and Tier I Seminars
   11:00 a.m.            Luncheon
   12:30 p.m.            Trade Show Opens
   4:00 p.m.             Trade Show Adjourns

Since the first Opportunity Exchange in 1990, the event has grown from 100 participants and $350,000 in resulting MBE contracts to more than 1,700 participants and more than $100 million in new contracts through last year. In 2005, Toyota was inducted into the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) in recognition of over $1 billion in annual spending with ethnic and diverse suppliers.

For more information about Toyota's Supplier Diversity Program or to register for Opportunity Exchange 2006, visit www.toyotasupplier.com.