Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech (TPCA) is an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 manufacturing company in Kolín

Kolín

Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic some east from Prague, lying on the Elbe river.-History:Kolín was founded by king Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century, first mentioned in 1261. Later on, 1437, a castle was founded here...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. It is a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 between Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and PSA Peugeot Citroën

PSA Peugeot Citroën

PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....

 of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. TPCA produces small cars for the European market. Production started in February, 2005, though the official opening ceremony was not until June. TPCA is the company French president Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

 had in mind in his televised attack on free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

.

Products

The manufacturing company produces three cars that are, in essence, the same.

These are the Citroën C1

Citroën C1

The Citroën C1 is a city car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since 2005.The C1 was developed as part of the B-Zero project by PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota. The Peugeot 107 is identical to the C1 other than the front bumper and front and rear lights, while the...

, Peugeot 107

Peugeot 107

The Peugeot 107 is a city car produced by French automaker Peugeot since mid 2005.The 107 was developed by the B-Zero project of PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota; the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo are badge engineered versions of the same car, although the Aygo has more detail...

 and Toyota Aygo

Toyota Aygo

The Toyota Aygo is a city car sold by Toyota in Europe since 2005. All Aygos are built at the new factory of the Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech joint venture in Kolin, Czech Republic. The Aygo was first displayed at the 2005 Salon de l'Automobile de Genève...

.

These cars share the vast majority of parts with only small cosmetic alterations (see badge engineering

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

).

Criticism by french president Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy referred to the plant in a televised speech against certain types of free trade:

(Translated from french)

"I want us to stop the relocation ... To create a factory in India to sell Renault in India is justified,
but to create a factory in the Czech Republic to sell cars in France is not justified".

2010 recall

In January 2010, Toyota announced a worldwide recall on several of their vehicles for a faulty sticking accelerator pedal - in which the Aygo is affected. Under certain circumstances, the pedal can stick in a partially depressed position, or return slowly to the off position. PSA Peugeot Citroën followed suit, announcing a recall of "under 100,000 units" of the Citroën C1 and the Peugeot 107 for the same issue. New information from Toyota has suggested, however, that only Aygos and Peugeot 107s with Aisin Ez-drive automated manual gearboxes (Multi-mode/2-Tronic) are affected, and that those with manual gearboxes are not.

External links

• Link to Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile