Toyota IMV Sales Reach Global 5 Million-unit Mark

Toyota City, Japan, April 6, 2012―Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that worldwide cumulative sales of its Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle (IMV) project series reached 5 million units at the end of March.

Concerning the milestone, TMC Managing Officer Kazuhiro Kobayashi, who played a central role in the project, said: "The aim of this project is to offer high-quality vehicles to consumers in a timely manner. I am very pleased that IMV sales have reached 5 million vehicles."

The IMV series consists of five vehicles―three pickup trucks, a minivan, and an SUV―specially developed in 2004 for introduction to over 140 countries and regions. Based on the concept of producing vehicles where they are sold, TMC has established an optimal worldwide production and supply system to quickly offer attractive vehicles at an affordable price to consumers around the world.

Currently, the IMV series is manufactured in 11 locations, including four countries designated as global IMV supply bases: Thailand, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa. These four bases provide vehicles to markets in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, Central and South America, and the Middle East. Additionally, major components such as diesel engines produced in Thailand, gasoline engines produced in Indonesia and transmissions produced in the Philippines and India are distributed to IMV-producing countries.

The IMV series has won the favor of many consumers around the world and sales have grown steadily with cumulative sales reaching 1 million vehicles in 2006, 2 million in 2008, 3 million in 2009, 4 million in 2010, and 5 million in March this year.

As set forth in the Toyota Global Vision, TMC has positioned emerging markets as a top priority. TMC aims to increase its sales in such markets from the present ratio of 40 percent of worldwide sales to 50 percent by 2015, through the strengthening of its core model of locally based production.

TMC will continue to use optimal supply systems to provide vehicles that meet the needs of individual markets around the world.