Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday it will supply Ford Motor Co. with electric drive motors for the U.S. automaker's hybrid vehicles starting in 2012.
Toshiba will invest about ¥4 billion to build a manufacturing facility to produce the drive motors, which will also be used in electric vehicles, in Houston at the site of Toshiba International Corp., the electronics company said.
The facility will be Toshiba's first overseas manufacturing base for automotive propulsion motors, which it currently produces in Mie Prefecture.
It will also be Toshiba's first foray into providing the motors directly to an automaker at a large volume.
Toshiba aims to supply such motors to other automakers in the United States as demand grows for environmentally friendly vehicles, it said.
The firm plans to start building the facility next January for completion in January 2012 with an annual production capacity of 130,000 to 140,000 units.
It plans to boost production capacity to 200,000 to 300,000 units in the future in line with an expected increase in demand for hybrid and electric vehicles.
Toshiba said it estimates the global market for motors for electrified vehicles, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, will grow from ¥50 billion in fiscal 2009 to ¥1 trillion in fiscal 2020.