US production plant for Aichi

The US plant – located in an area where Aichi's owner Toyota has several facilities – will play a significant part in its plans to grow its export business. Earlier this year, the company said it wanted to boost its annual sales to Yen 90 billion (US$790 million) by its fiscal year 2010 (to March 2011), up almost a third from Yen 67.9 billion ($595 million) reported for its latest financial year to March 2007.

As part of the plan, export sales as a proportion of the total are scheduled to rise from last year's 10% to around 35% for the year to March 2011, or equivalent to Yen 32 billion ($280 million). The company forecasts that its sales in Japan will be maintained at around Yen 60 billion ($526 million) for the next three years.