Toyota's China-made Crown 1st to Receive Five Stars in Collision Safety Tests

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION announced today that the Crown luxury sedan manufactured by Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (TFTM)1 recently received China's first-ever five-star safety rating in collision safety tests performed by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC)2.

The automobile market is expanding rapidly in China and motorization is advancing at a brisk pace, with social consciousness of automobile collision safety also on the rise. To respond to these developments, CATARC adopted the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP), a system for testing vehicle collision safety. The center has been conducting tests of vehicles sold in China and publicly announcing the results since last year.

As the Toyota brand flagship vehicle in China, the Crown went into production at TFTM in March of 2005. A total of approximately 70,000 Crown vehicles have been sold through FAW Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd. (FTMS) to date, and the Crown has been praised by customers in China for its high quality, high performance and reliability.

To contribute to the realization of an affluent automobile society, Toyota vigorously conducts research and development designed to enhance vehicle safety performance and adopts the resulting technologies on a wide range of its products. As one aspect of these efforts, Toyota is actively introducing advanced vehicles in the Chinese market that meet the rigorous collision safety standards of Toyota's original Global Outstanding Assessment (GOA) system.

1. A joint venture company established by TMC and China FAW Group Corporation (FAW) for the production of passenger vehicles
2. A research organization funded and established by the Chinese government. CATARC assists the government in activities such as formulating automobile technology-related regulations and standards and enforcing them.