Toyota Motor Europe to become full ACEA Member

The General Assembly of ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, has accepted the application of Toyota Motor Europe (TME) to become a full ACEA member. The company’s membership will start in January 2008.

“We welcome Toyota Motor Europe in our midst and are convinced TME will make a valuable contribution to the work of our association,” said Sergio Marchionne, President of ACEA and CEO of Fiat SpA. “ACEA and TME share the same challenges and concerns with regard to EU regulation and our sector’s competitive strength.

Together we will give even more vigorous input to the on-going process of improving the EU regulatory framework and the “better regulation” agenda of the European Commission.”

“We are very proud to have been accepted as a full member of ACEA”, said Tadashi Arashima, President of Toyota Motor Europe. “We now have an important presence in Europe and so joining the European automotive association was the next logical step. We look forward to working more closely with fellow members on the issues confronting the industry.”

The European automotive industry is a key to the strength and competitiveness of Europe in terms of employment, fiscal revenue, external trade, research and innovation. Current priorities for the European automobile industry are a completion of the Internal Market including fiscal harmonisation and CO2-related motor vehicle and fuel taxes; reducing over-regulation and the side-effects of conflicting objectives of legislation; better promotion of R&D efforts and innovation policy instruments; global harmonisation of technical regulations and standards for motor vehicles; continuous development of efficient road infrastructure; better market access through multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements; and the adoption of an Integrated Approach to important societal issues such as road safety and CO2 emissions involving all relevant stakeholders.