TOKYO - Toyota group firms on Monday announced a joint venture in China with an initial investment of one billion yen (9.5 million dollars) to build fuel-efficient air conditioner compressors for cars.
The new firm would begin operations in April 2006 in Kunshan near Shanghai, with a projection of 60 employees and annual production of 280,000 compressors in 2007, a statement said.
It said the venture to build so-called variable displacement compressors -- which adjust cooling better than older models and hence save energy -- was in response to rising demand and would allow expansion in the Chinese market.
The joint venture, to be named the TD Automative Compressor Kunshan Co. Ltd., will be 57 percent owned by Toyota Industries Corporation with three other Toyota group firms holding the rest.
China replaced the United States as Japan's biggest trading partner for the first time in 2004, with firms drawn by China's pool of cheap labor and growing middle-class market.
04/04/2005 12:41 GMT