Toyota to invest in common rail diesel engines in Thailand

Toyota Motor is to invest about 8.2 billion baht (US$235 million) to build common-rail diesel engines in Thailand for compact-sized trucks, but is laying off 1,000 more subcontract workers in response to a global market slump. In its investment proposal endorsed by the Board of Investment (BoI) on December 8, Siam Toyota Manufacturing, a subsidiary that manufactures engines for Toyota’s assembly plants in Thailand, will produce 400,320 knockdown (KD) engines for the Vigo and Fortuner models. The company intends to cut production by 20% between December and April and aims to roll out 470,000 units in 2009, down from 570,000 units in 2008. (December 9, 2008)