Toyo Establishes a New Sales Subsidiary in Europe(27,December,2004)

December 27, 2004 OSAKA JAPAN - Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (President and CEO Yoshio Kataoka) will establish a sales subsidiary in Neuss, Germany on January 1, 2005. The new company, known as Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, is a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation, set up to serve the entire European market.

The tire market in Europe has been growing in tandem with the development of the EU. Against this backdrop, with the new sales subsidiary, Toyo aims to implement unified sales and marketing strategies, and expand sales across the continent.

All business operations of the previous sales subsidiary in Germany, Dusseldorf-based Toyo Reifen GmbH will be taken over by the new firm.

The outline of the new company is as follows.

Company name: Toyo Tire Europe GmbH
Location: Hellersbergstrasse 10a, 41460 Neuss, Germany
President: Takeo Suzuki
Capital: 1,534,000 euro(Toyo Tire & Rubber 60%; Mitsubishi Corp. 40%)
Date established: January 1, 2005
Accounting term: January - December
Number of employees: 82 (projected for 2007)