http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/toy10_20030610.htm
Toyota to make vehicles more recyclable Company announces Europe, Japan plans June 10, 2003 BY KAE INOUE BLOOMBERG TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker by market value, said it plans to make its Japan-built cars on average 88-percent recyclable by the year ending in March 2006 to cut costs and reduce harmful waste. The vehicles are as much as 83 percent recyclable now, Director Yoshio Shirai said at a press briefing. The company wants to increase that rate to 95 percent in the year ending in March 2016, in line with proposed government regulations. In Europe, Toyota aims to make its cars 85 percent recyclable by 2006, rising to 95 percent by 2015. Toyota is trying to match efforts to improve recyclability by European rivals like Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG. It hopes to expand its market share in Europe. Making its products more recyclable also enables the company to cut costs by reusing parts from old vehicles. "Toyota is probably emphasizing recycling to cut costs and make better products," said Norihito Kanai, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.5 billion at Meiji Dresdner Asset Management Co. To achieve its targets, the maker of Corolla cars is reusing more parts and avoiding using mercury, lead, cadmium and a type of chromium that may cause cancer, Shirai said. Toyota plans to stop using these substances in its Japanese and European cars by 2006, he added. Toyota reused 23,000 parts from old cars in 2002 and aims to increase that figure tenfold by 2010. The company said it will announce recycling plans for markets outside Japan and Europe later this year. Toyota said it costs 20,000 yen to recycle a car. The automaker is for the first time using a new material derived from plants such as sugar cane and corn for its Raum compact car's spare tire cover and floor mats. Dismantling the latest version of the Raum for recycling takes 30 percent less time than for earlier versions of the model, thanks to an improved design and increased use of recyclable materials. Toyota, which posted its third straight record annual profit for the year ended March 31, said it expects domestic auto sales to rise 0.6 percent to 1.72 million units this business year. Japan's largest automaker, which now generates about 80 percent of its operating profit in North America, wants to raise sales at home with about 11 new and revamped model releases this year. The first revamped version of the Raum in six years went on sale with a 1.5 liter engine last month. Toyota is pricing the vehicle at between 1.4 million yen ($11,820) and 1.87 million yen. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
