TOYOTA has signed a deal with VW and DaimlerChrysler to enable them to use its 'NOx Storage Reduction 3-Way Catalyst System', which helps to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions and improve fuel.

The key to Toyota's system is a three-way catalytic converter that reduces NOx using a special nitrogen oxide-absorbing material. Toyota introduced the system to its lean-burn systems in 1994 and to its direct-injection petrol engine in 1996. So far, it has installed the system on 300,000 cars for the Japanese market. A spokesman said: 'Toyota is willing to license patents on environment-related technologies such as this to any company, domestic or overseas, that wants to introduce them.'