June 17, 2003

Toyota Canada opens new Quebec headquarters

Montreal, Quebec - Toyota Canada officially opened its new Québec Zone headquarters, on Montréal's South Shore on Monday. The ceremonies were presided over by TCI President and CEO Ken Tomikawa; Nicole Carrier, President of the borough of Brossard, and Fatima Houda-Pépin, Member of the National Assembly for Lapinière (Brossard).

To mark the event, Mr. Tomikawa donated a Toyota Sienna to the Borough of Brossard. "We are donating this vehicle, which can be used for community work, as a proof of our desire to be a responsible corporate citizen that will be actively involved in this community," declared Mr. Tomikawa as he was handing the keys to Ms. Carrier.

Construction on the 26,350 sq. ft. building, which is over two and a half times the size of the building it replaces, began just over a year ago, in April, 2002. It includes not only office space for about 40 Toyota, Lexus and Toyota Financial Services associates, but state-of-the-art meeting and videoconferencing facilities. It is also the regional home of Toyota University, which serves the dealerships of Toyota's Québec and Atlantic Zones. The building was completed at a total cost of over $7 million.

"Toyota has always had a special relationship with the people of Québec and this beautiful new building represents our commitment to them, now and for the future," said Tomikawa. "Nearly one third of all the Toyota products sold in Canada are sold in this province, so it is an extremely significant market for us. Toyota and Lexus dealers in Québec work hard to retain the trust and confidence of these customers and, as a result, our Québec dealers have the highest customer satisfaction index in the country."

Toyota's Canadian sales have grown from about seven thousand vehicles in 1976 to over 43 thousand in 2002. Québec's 67 dealers employ over 2,000 people. Over the last three years, those dealers have spent over eight million dollars on their facilities. Over the next three years, Québec dealers plan further renovations, upgrades or relocations, which will result in another 53 million dollars invested in the local economy, says the company.

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