Toyota on Tuesday announced plans to increase production capacity in Europe by moving from two to three shifts at its plants in Burnaston, UK, and Valenciennes, France, starting in the second quarter of 2004. Annual Corolla and Avensis production capacity in the UK will increase from the current 220,000 vehicles to around 270,000, creating about 1,000 new jobs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK). Adding a third shift, Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF) could increase its current annual Yaris production capacity from 184,000 to 240,000. In a first phase, 500 new jobs will be created to bring annual capacity to 210,000 units. The capacity increase at the two plants will support Toyota’s further growth in Europe.
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The announcement came just weeks after Toyota Motor Europe sales chief Thierry Dombreval told just-auto the company could squeeze an extra 200,000 units a year out of existing European factory capacity.
In an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the redesigned Prius launch at the end of April Dombreval said: “The preferred route so far is to look at strengthening existing facilities” and acknowledged that meant more shifts in UK and France, He added that TME was looking at “significant extra potential” in terms of both product and manufacturing and stressed there was no new factory in mind.
This is the first time Toyota will run a three-shift system in a vehicle plant. The increased production at TMMF and TMUK will lead to improvements in capacity utilisation, and is expected to benefit Toyota’s profitability in Europe. The decision is also consistent with Toyota’s philosophy of building cars where they are sold.
With the current annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles at its Turkish Adapazari plant (TMMT) and the planned capacity increase at TMMF and TMUK, Toyota will have a total production capacity of about 610,000 vehicles per year. In addition, Toyota and PSA Peugeot Citroën will start manufacturing 300,000 entry-level small passenger cars in the Czech Republic starting in 2005, of which 100,000 will be for the Toyota brand.
Toyota’s plants at Burnaston and Deeside were Toyota’s first manufacturing sites in Europe. In December 2002 they celebrated their 10th anniversary, having produced over 1.3 million vehicles and 1.1 million engines in the U.K. In January 2003 the Burnaston plant started manufacturing the redesigned Avensis, alongside the Corolla. The Avensis will be the first Toyota to be exported from Europe to Japan and its plant currently employs about 4,600 people.
The Valenciennes plant in the north of France has been making the Yaris since January 2001 and the 200,000th came off the production line in January 2003. Capacity was increased to 184,000 units last November, meaning one car is produced every minute. In mid-January, the plant announced plans to assemble 30,000 diesel engines annually, in addition to 150,000 petrol engines, for the Yaris. TMMF currently employs more than 2,600 people.
