Toyota May Buy GM Out of Joint Venture in U.S.

Toyota may seek to buy out General Motors’ half interest in the Fremont car assembly venture that the two firms jointly operate, according to an industry trade journal.

Toyota has set aside funds for the possible purchase, Ward’s Automotive International reported this week.

The move may be a part of a larger plan by Toyota to double its capacity to build cars and trucks in North America--and eventually to surpass GM and become the world’s No. 1 auto maker.

Officials at Toyota and New United Motor Manufacturing, the formal name for the GM-Toyota joint venture, wouldn’t comment Thursday on the report.

Under a 1984 agreement between GM and Toyota, the Fremont plant is scheduled to operate as a joint venture at least until 1996. Both firms originally invested $100 million in the project; Toyota provided cash, and GM provided the plant--a GM assembly facility that had been closed in the early 1980s.

In the past, the plant has built slightly more cars for GM than for Toyota. But in 1990, production is expected to be shared almost equally.

Soon, NUMMI production for Toyota will far surpass that provided for GM. GM has agreed to allow Toyota to expand the NUMMI facility to add a second assembly line to produce 100,000 light trucks each year--exclusively for Toyota.

A takeover of the NUMMI facility would help Toyota meet its announced goal of doubling production in North America by the mid-1990s. Currently, Toyota has the capacity to build roughly 350,000 cars and trucks a year in three plants in the United States and Canada.

Toyota officials say they would like to expand production in North America to 750,000 cars and trucks by the mid-1990s. A Toyota spokeswoman said Thursday that company officials have not said where the expansion would take place, adding that Toyota has no current plans for the construction of a new, separate assembly plant.