Toyota may halve production output at its UK plant from August to improve profitability at the factory.
The plant, which currently produces the Auris and Avensis, will also start assembling the Auris hybrid from this summer.
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The Nikkei newspaper said that Toyota will shut down one of the two assembly lines and cut capacity by about 120,000 units from 290,000 units. About 750 employees, representing about 20 percent of the workforce, will be offered early retirement.
Toyota has also announced that it is suspending production at its plants in France and the UK for 12 days from next week following a dip in global sales dip after the company’s safety recalls.
Production will be put on hold at Burnaston from Monday to Thursday and again from April 6 to 9, when it will also temporarily stop output from its plant in Valenciennes, France.
The company has been forced to recall more than eight million vehicles worldwide mostly due to problems with sudden acceleration. A Toyota spokesman said the initial stoppages in Britain and France are due to lower sales, while the second four-day closure in Britain will be in preparation for the production of a new model.
A spokesman for the company said: “One of the reasons has to do with revising our sales plans due to the negative effects of the recalls. The other reason is that we are getting ready to build a new hybrid vehicle in our UK plant. In that case it is very customary to close a plant for a few days, or even a few weeks.”
