Audi Motor Assembly K.K. is a former assembly facility for automobiles. The company was founded in 1987 as a joint venture between Audi AG and Hino Jidōsha K.K. Its manufacturing facility in Tokyo, Japan employed more than 900 workers and had an annual capacity of 70,000. A "9" digit in the eleventh position of the vehicle identification number denotes cars made at the plant, which were distributed through a part of Yanase K.K.'s dealer network. Increasingly competitive behavior by Hino's parent Toyota Motor Corporation prompted Audi AG to terminate the joint venture in January 1998. This drove up prices for Audis in Japan by up to 25 per cent. Three years later, in 2000, Audi AG founded its own local Japanese dealer network, Audi Japan K.K.