Press Release

Osaka, Japan-April 8-Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (Akira Nobuki, President & CEO)announces that it has established and begun operation^*1 of Toyo Tire (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “TTT”) (local affiliate with 100% capital contribution by Toyo Tires) tire sales subsidiary in Thailand on April 1, 2013 as part of the Company’s Asia growth strategy for its tire business unit.

1. Background of Newly Established Company
The car market in the ASEAN nations has been growing rapidly in recent years propelled by construction of new plants and buildup of production bases by the world’s major car makers, and has grown on a scale equal to that of the China market. Thailand in particular is Southeast Asia’s largest car market, and with a year-on-year increase in February of over 40% in terms of volume of cars sold, its growth is remarkable even among these countries. Toyo Tires has positioned Thailand as a vital strategic market in Southeast Asia. Up to now, the Company has sold TOYO TIRES brand tires through local distributors. However, in order to capture an increasingly greater share of the demand in Thailand that is growing each year, the Company established TTT as a local sales subsidiary.
With TTT, Toyo Tires will undertake to enhance passenger vehicle aftermarket tire sales with local sales channels, while making an effort to boost its ability to sell tires mounted onto new vehicles to local car makers. Moreover, with SUV^*2 and pickup trucks comprising over half of the cars owned in Thailand, the Company also plans to aggressively promote sales of light truck tires, which even among Toyo’s products are particularly popular in North America.

2. Overview of New Company

3. Future Outlook
As set forth in the Company’s Mid-term Business Plan ’11, Toyo Tires is in the process of building a global supply system centered in three key regions: North America, Japan and Asia. Among these, Asia is positioned as the most important market for boosting the sales growth foundation of the tire business unit. TTT will sell tires imported from Japan along with high-quality tires supplied by Toyo Tyre Malaysia Sdn Bhd. (hereinafter “TTM”), Toyo’s new tire plant in Malaysia scheduled for completion in May 2013. In doing so, the company will set its sights on expanding its tire sales business in the Thailand market. With the establishment of TTT sales subsidiary in Thailand and the completion of TTM Malaysia manufacturing and sales company, Toyo Tires will now have in place a foothold to aggressively establish local production for local consumption in Southeast Asia, which will contribute to the development of industry in the region.

*1 Start of business for tires equipped with new vehicles scheduled for April 2013; start of business for passenger vehicle aftermarket tires scheduled to begin in July.
*2 Abbreviation for Sports Utility Vehicles.