Toyota has denied a report by a German magazine that it is contemplating building a new plant in Europe, although a Lexus plant in Germany may make some sense.
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A Toyota representative has told dpa-AFX news agency that it has sufficient capacity in Europe, and that Toyota has no plans for a new plant.
A front-page headline in the 8th May edition of Automobilwoche said that Toyota is considering building a plant in Germany, which would produce Lexus cars. Luxury car production is not particularly sensitive to Germany’s high production costs and Toyota would gain some kudos from producing cars in Europe’s largest market for premium cars.
Toyota is aggressively marketing Lexus in Germany and told the Financial Times Deutschland at the weekend that it is doubling its marketing budget to EUR80m. By building cars in Germany Toyota could massively increase its appeal and market share, and possibly even approach German sales figures that are comparable with Audi or BMW. Toyota’s market share in England and France grew once it started producing in each of those countries.
The Automotilwoche report states that Toyota is considering a five-year time frame and that the plant would have a capacity of around 100,000 cars. It would require an investment of EUR800m and create at least 2,000 new jobs.
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By GlobalDataOfficially Toyota is denying that it has any plans for a new plant, a fact that Automobilwoche recognises in its article.
Meanwhile, dpa-AFX news has reported that the town of Augsburg has had some contact with Toyota about being a possible location for the new plant. Augsburg lost out to Leipzig as the location for BMW’s new plant.
The German economy minister Michael Glos also reportedly approached Toyota earlier this year, putting Germany forward as a possible location for a Lexus plant.
