Toyota to Invest $250 Million in Fremont Facility

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s top auto maker, will invest about $250 million to build a small-size pickup truck assembly line next spring at its joint venture with General Motors Corp. in Fremont, Calif., a leading economic journal reported Friday.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the Nagoya-based company will hire 700 members of the United Auto Workers Union for the new assembly line.

Toyota could not be reached for comment immediately because of the year-end holiday.

The newspaper said the Japanese company plans to produce pickup trucks at the facility at an annual rate of 100,000 units, starting in the summer of 1990.

Toyota’s decision is aimed at overcoming the sharp appreciation of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar, which has affected competitiveness of Japanese trucks sold on the U.S. market.

The United States also charges a high 25% tariff on Japanese truck imports.

The paper said Toyota’s decision raised a possibility the Japanese auto maker will purchase the car production facility from GM when their joint venture agreement expires in 1996.

Toyota and GM have been manufacturing passenger cars at the rejuvenated GM facility in Fremont since 1984.