TOYOTA CITY, JAPAN - Toyota Motor Corp. plans to make vehicle liner material and other interior surfaces from a new "Ecological Plastic" that features the world's first use of the material bio-PET.  

Starting with the luggage-compartment liner in the Lexus CT200h due at the beginning of 2011, Toyota plans to increase both the number of vehicle series featuring the new material, as well as the amount of vehicle-interior area covered by it, and intends to introduce a vehicle model in 2011 in which Ecological Plastic will cover 80 percent of the vehicle interior. 

According to Toyota, the bio-PET-based Ecological Plastic -- developed with Toyota Tsusho Corp. -- is characterized by: 

  • Enhanced performance (heat-resistance, durability performance, shrink resistance) compared to conventional bio-plastics and performance parity with petroleum-based PET
  • The potential to approach the cost-per-part performance of petroleum-based plastics through volume production
  • Usability in seats and carpeting and other interior components that require a high level of performance. 

Ecological Plastic has the benefit of being more carbon neutral than conventional petroleum-based plastics, meaning it can lessen product-life-cycle CO2 emissions. Use of it can contribute to a reduction in the use of limited petroleum resources.  

Toyota has been engaged in applying Ecological Plastics to automobiles since 2000, and, in May 2003, became the first in the world to use in a mass-production vehicle a bio-plastic made from polyactic acid, which was introduced in the spare tire cover and floor mats of the Japanese-market "Raum" small car. Toyota has since expanded its use of Ecological Plastic.

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