Toshiba to make drive motors for Ford hybrids in U.S.

[Falc'man]

UPDATE 1-Toshiba to supply drive motors for Ford hybrids
Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:10pm EDT

* Toshiba plans to invest $44 mln to set up new line

* First time company has made units outside Japan

* Toshiba shares down 1.2 pct vs Nikkei's 1.7 pct fall (Adds details, share price)

DETROIT/TOKYO, June 22 (Reuters) - Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said on Tuesday it will supply drive motors for Ford Motor Co (F.N) hybrid vehicles, aiming to cash in on surging demand for green cars.

Toshiba, which also produces lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, said it would start making the automotive propulsion units in the United States to meet growing demand.

It will be the first time the company has manufactured the parts outside Japan.

By expanding globally, Toshiba hopes to grab a slice of growing demand for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Toshiba said it expects the drive motor market to jump 20-fold to 1 trillion yen ($11 billion) by the 2020 financial year.

It plans to invest about 4 billion yen ($44 million) to set up a new production line at an existing facility in Houston and start production in 2012 with a monthly capacity of 100,000 units, a company spokesman said.

Toshiba shares fell 1.2 percent to 483 yen by midday in Tokyo on Wednesday, outperforming a 1.7 percent slide in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. ($1=90.51 Yen) (Reporting by James B. Kelleher in Detroit and Sachi Izumi in Tokyo, editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Michael Watson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE65M01W20100623