Toyota Motor Corporation is working hard to respond to new regulations emerging in Saudi Arabia mandating stricter standards of fuel economy, a senior Toyota executive says.

While addressing the GCC media in Tokyo, Koji Nagata, general manager, Middle East and Southwest Asia, said Toyota is following closely the Saudi policies and will do its best to comply with those regulations.

“Attractive, safe, fuel efficient vehicles mean satisfied customers. And their smiles mean sustainable growth for us,” he said.

The population of Saudi Arabia and the whole Middle East is growing with more and more young people. And we want to satisfy their needs with our new product lineup,” Nagata said.

He said Toyota started exporting vehicles to the Middle East 60 years ago “and we are proud and very, very thankful to have earned the trust of your people.”

He said the Middle East is a very big market for Toyota and “we almost sold 730,000 units in 2013 and expect to sell 750,000 in 2014.”

Takayuki Yoshitsugu, chief representative at the Middle East and North Africa Office, said: “Our success depends on customer satisfaction. In Saudi Arabia, we have distributor Abdul Latif Jameel to provide best vehicles and after sales service.”

He said Saudi Arabia is the biggest market in the GCC for Toyota vehicles. “This year we will sell around 300,000 vehicles and the number is expected to cross in 2015.”

Yoshitsugu said, Toyota celebrated 75 years of its existence last year.

Since its inception, Toyota has sought to contribute to a more prosperous society through the manufacture of automobiles, operating its business with a focus on vehicle production and sales.

He said Toyota has grown up with 16 production facilities in Japan which manufacture wide variety of vehicles and spare parts and vehicles from both Toyota and Lexus brands.

He said out of total production, Toyota produces 38 percent in Japan, 30 percent in Asia, 20 percent in North America, 6 percent in other regions.

In terms of vehicle sales, he pointed out North America is the biggest region with 27 percent of sales, Japan 18 percent, Asia 26 percent, Europe 9 percent with another 20 percent from other regions.

Yoshitsugu said Toyota will continue to raise the standards of customer satisfaction by making high quality, durable and reliable vehicles.

Toyota is also committed to creating vehicles that have Waku-Doku.

He said: “From fuel-efficient vehicles to developing groundbreaking technologies, Toyota is at the forefront of environmental sustainability and is the world leader in building environment-friendly and fuel-efficient cars.

About R & D, Yoshitsugu said Toyota has 15 such centers located all over the world across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.

“We have 5 R&D centers in Japan, 2 in Asia, 3 in Europe — Germany, France and Belgium. Also we have R&D centers in China, Thailand and Australia.”