Toyoda Gosei to expand English plant

ROTHERHAM, England (Aug. 31)—Automotive components maker Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd. will expand its recently opened weatherstrip plant in Rotherham, increasing the size of the plant by 50 percent to about 160,000 square feet in the coming two years. The project represents an investment of several million dollars in addition to the $50 million spent thus far to build the facility, which primarily supplies the British assembly factories of Japanese car makers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. At full capacity, the plant is expected to employ 500 by year-end 2004. Employment at the facility, which started production in October 2000, stands at 265 and will exceed 320 by year-end, according to Toyoda Gosei U.K., the subsidiary company. The expansion should put the firm in a position to bid for business from other European car makers, the company said in a prepared statement.