Toyota to sell in 2015 vehicles built through parts-sharing

 

TOYOTA: Toyota Motor Corp will start selling in 2015 the first vehicles built under its parts-sharing and platform framework, the company said on Wednesday, as rivals led by Volkswagen pursue similar strategies to cut costs.

The framework, called the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), shares parts among vehicles using the same platform in order to save costs and manpower.

Initially, vehicles will share 20-30 percent of parts, a ratio Toyota wants to eventually expand to 70-80 percent, Executive Vice President Mitsuhisa Kato said.

"Global competition among automakers is becoming more severe, and TNGA is an effort to make more efficient and more attractive products," he told reporters.

Volkswagen recently began implementing its MQB platform, and almost all of the group's small and medium front-wheel-drive family models, including the VW Golf, are being designed around it.