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DETROIT, United States : Toyota Motor Corp. has no interest in buying DaimlerChrysler's struggling US unit, the Japanese automaker's president said Thursday.
When asked if Toyota would be placing a bid for Chrysler, Katsuaki Watanabe flatly replied "no" and said the company was not interested in making any acquisitions to fuel its expansion as it aims to replace General Motors as the world's largest automaker.
Watanabe, who was in Detroit to deliver a speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers, declined to comment on rumours that Toyota was set to post record profits in 2007.
He told reporters that the company's biggest concern right now is maintaining and improving the quality on which it has built its reputation with consumers around the world.
"I'm also concerned about product quality," he said. "Not only product quality but also continuous improvement."
Toyota was the first Asian company to host the society's annual meeting which attracts more than 30,000 engineers from as far away as India and China to the home city of the US auto industry here to discuss issues ranging from global warming to the development of new brakes and sensors.
To mark the occasion, Toyota unveiled the i-Swing, an experimental vehicle with a low resistance urethane body, designed for one person, that features artificial intelligence, learning the habits and preferences of users by storing relevant data about how they drive the vehicle.
Toyota aims to have the capacity to produce approximately 2.2 million cars and trucks annually in North America by 2010, which is roughly the same number of vehicles as DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler unit.
- AFP /ls
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