Aisin Seiki to Produce Hybrid Systems for Toyota

Japanese automatic transmission manufacturer Aisin AW Co. will start producing gasoline-electric hybrid systems, mainly to be used in Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus luxury brand automobiles.

Toyota is outsourcing the production of the key modules for hybrid vehicles for the first time in response to growing demand.

The Aisin Seiki Co. subsidiary plans to output hybrid systems at its new plant in Aichi Prefecture. Total investment is estimated at more than ¥20 billion.

The firm intends to produce some 100,000 modules for rear-wheel-drive vehicles annually by around 2010.

Aisin AW will receive from Toyota such hybrid system components as electric motors and inverters. The modules that Aisin AW will roll out are to be used in the Lexus GS Hybrid, to be released this spring, and the LS Hybrid, slated to debut in 2007.

Toyota hopes to sell 1 million hybrid vehicles worldwide in the early 2010s. Although President Katsuaki Watanabe announced that the automaker aims to sell such 400,000 units worldwide this year, production has not kept up with demand because of a shortage of components.

Aisin AW has been supplying 20,000 hybrid systems a year to U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. since 2004.