Toyota’s UK engine factory at Deeside, North Wales, has become the company’s first plant outside Japan to manufacture a hybrid vehicle engine.
The 1.8-litre, Atkinson cycle, VVT-i petrol engine for the new Auris Hybrid, which is integral to Toyota’s hybrid synergy drive system, is produced wholly at the facility. Raw aluminium is smelted and cast on-site, prior to machining, assembly and testing of the finished unit. The completed engines are then shipped to Toyota’s Burnaston car plant in Derbyshire for installation.
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Toyota’s Deeside operation opened in 1992, principally to supply engines to Burnaston, which began production the same year. It currently employs around 500 people working two shifts five days a week, building both the 1.8 engine for the Hybrid and Toyota’s 1.6-litre ‘Valvematic’ petrol engine. Last year the plant produced 130,247 units.
