Toyota

GEORGETOWN, Ky., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Toyota Motor

Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) celebrated the production launch of the

Camry Hybrid today -- Toyota's first hybrid vehicle produced in North America.

The addition of hybrid production represents a $10 million investment at

TMMK, which will build approximately 48,000 Camry Hybrid vehicles per year.

TMMK was established in 1986 and is Toyota's largest plant in North

America. It employs approximately 7,000 team members and currently builds the

Camry, Avalon and Solara. The plant has the capacity to build 500,000

vehicles annually. Since its inception, TMMK has built about 6.7 million

vehicles, and the plant's current investment is $5.4 billion.

"We are proud, excited and honored to be Toyota's first plant in North

America to build a hybrid vehicle," said Steve St. Angelo, President of TMMK.

"It's a great tribute to the tremendous ability and skill level of all of our

team members, who have been building the Camry, America's number one selling

sedan."

"America's hybrid leader now sells a Camry hybrid made in America," said

Don Esmond, Toyota Motor Sales senior vice president, Automotive Operations.

"Production at the new Kentucky plant marks an exciting chapter in Toyota's

history and a monumental step toward our ongoing commitment to hybrid

technology."

The Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive System consists of gas and electric power

sources that are complementary and produce a combined 187 horsepower. This

system varies power between gas and electric, or both, as needed. The first-

half of the system consists of a 2.4 liter four cylinder engine, assembled at

TMMK's Power Train plant. The Atkinson-cycle engine generates 147 hp and is

coupled to a continuously variable transmission. The second half of the Hybrid

Synergy Drive equation consists of a small, high torque electric motor that

produces 141 horsepower, an ultra-small inverter with a specially designed

compact battery and a transaxle to provide the economy and seamless

performance hybrid drivers seek.

The Camry Hybrid joins a growing Toyota and Lexus hybrid lineup in the

U.S., which currently includes the groundbreaking Toyota Prius, Lexus RX 400h

luxury hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV), Toyota Highlander Hybrid mid-size

SUV, and the 2007 Lexus GS 450h hybrid luxury sedan. In 2007, Lexus will be

adding the LS 600h to the hybrid lineup. Since Toyota began selling hybrid

vehicles in North America in 2000, the company has sold approximately 420,000

hybrid vehicles here. In 1997, Toyota became a pioneer in the industry by

launching the Prius, a mass-production hybrid vehicle with outstanding

environmental performance. Toyota has positioned hybrid systems as a key

technology for the twenty-first century and is taking measures to promote the

widespread use of hybrid vehicles.

Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in North America in 1957. By 2008,

Toyota will have the annual capacity to build about 2 million cars and trucks

in 14 plants across North America. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus

and Scion dealerships in North America, which sell more than 2.5 million

vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs nearly 40,000 people in North America.

Toyota's investment in North America is valued at more than $17.6 billion, and

annual purchasing from North American suppliers totals more than $29 billion.

2nd Article - -football and Toyota

TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Every summer, young men

at almost every high school in the United States prepare to follow a

tradition. By lifting weights and running wind sprints these men make

themselves ready to become players. At the start of the school year, every

Friday night they become part of the most important thing in town; the high

school football team.

Starting Sunday, Oct. 8, Toyota will highlight some of the traditions of

the top high school football programs around the nation with original content

that will air every week on the NBC Sunday Night Halftime Show.

Toyota will help to showcase some of the top football programs by sending

two college students, Jon & J.J., around the country to find schools with the

strongest and craziest traditions. Their show, "Jon & J.J. The Line of

Scrimmage," will feature two pieces from each of the seven high schools they

visit along the way. Inspired by the big sports networks, the pair will

write, direct and host the spots right from the tailgate of

...