Toyota Motor Corp. plans to introduce low-cost, high-quality tires jointly developed with a tire maker for use in some of its cars in 2001, a company official said Thursday.
The firm may also produce tires on its own with the aim of sharply cutting down on procurement costs, the official said.
Toyota will supply several major tire makers with manufacturing technology for the new tire it has developed with Fuji Seiko K.K., based in Hashima, Gifu Prefecture, the official said.
Those manufacturers will then supply the tire to Toyota. It will be introduced on certain Toyota models beginning next year, according to the official.
Fuji Seiko has developed a tire-production system that requires little space for the manufacturing process.
Toyota had been considering adopting the system for its own assembly plants but abandoned the idea after determining that the company would need several of the systems, which would require too much space, the official said.
Toyota, however, is still planning to change its procurement arrangements for tires, the official said, suggesting that the company could start producing them on its own.