Toyota to Shift Half its Vehicles to New Platforms by 2020
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Toyota Motor Corp. will shift half of all the vehicles it makes to new cost-saving platforms by 2020, following a similar move by rival Volkswagen AG.
By moving to the new underpinnings and more use of common components, Toyota will reduce development costs by at least 20 percent, Executive Vice President Mitsuhisa Kato said Thursday in Toyota City, Japan, where the company is based. The initiative, called Toyota New Global Architecture, follows a strategy Volkswagen began to implement in 2012.