Toyota to invest £50 million into a new research facility

Toyota will invest £50 million during the next four year into a new research facility called Research Institute of North America (TRI-NA) located near the Toyota Technical Center in Michigan.

The Japanese carmaker has announced that the new Research Institute of North America will focus on four areas: advanced technologies, urban environment, energy, and partnerships with government and academia. The new facility initially will employ 35 researchers and administration staff, and plans to add 10 researchers in 2008 and an additional 20 by 2010. The new technology center is a big move for the carmaker as most of its research was done mostly in Japan and sometimes in Australia and Germany.

The new Research Institute of North America will join the long list of Toyota’s facilities in the US which owns eleven factories, one technical center, one design center (pictured) and builds two new production sites

GM and Ford might see the new facility as provocative at a time when the two carmakers struggle to cut costs and can’t afford to invest into new technologies.