NAGOYA, May 30 (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp. plans to transfer the production of its Porte compact car from Daihatsu Motor Co.'s Kyoto plant to Kanto Auto Works Ltd.'s Higashifuji plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, industry sources said Wednesday.
The transfer is expected to follow the possible remodeling of the Porte in July and is aimed at increasing the efficiency of the Higashifuji plant.
Kanto Auto is scheduled to merge with two other Toyota group firms -- Central Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Tohoku Corp. -- into Toyota Motor East Japan Inc. on July 1 for the development and production of compact vehicles.
Toyota is now reviewing its group's production arrangements in the run-up to the merger.
The Higashifuji plant now produces such vehicles as liquefied petroleum gas cars for taxi companies, but demand for these vehicles is not expected to increase substantially.
Toyota also plans to transfer the production of the Ractis compact to the Higashifuji plant from Kanto Auto's Iwate plant, which is expected to expand production of the popular Aqua hybrid compact.
The Daihatsu Kyoto plant assembled some 13,000 Porte cars in 2011. It is planned to continue producing commercial and other vehicles for Toyota after the Porte production transfer.
