Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will rev up production and boost parts procurement in Latin America in an effort to double its market share in the region.
The automaker said it plans to triple local Corolla production from the current 20,000 annual units to 60,000 by 2002.
Toyota sells about 100,000 vehicles annually in Latin America and has a 4.7 percent market share.
The automaker said it will invest an additional 30 billion yen in Brazil to increase its annual local production of Corollas from 15,000 units to 45,000 and will build a stamping plant to raise its local content ratio from 60 percent to 80 percent.
It will also start local production of some Corolla models in Argentina while continuing imports from Brazil.
In a cost-cutting effort for its Venezuelan operations, Toyota said it will shift parts procurement to Europe and the United States from Japan.
The step is expected to strengthen Venezuela's position as a Corolla supply base for exports to Colombia and Ecuador, it added.