Toyota’s UK manufacturing presence is firmly in revival phase according to Toyota GB executives.
Tony Walker, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK, told just-auto at a media dinner that the company is now recovering from the economic crisis of 2008 that led to a sudden drop of over 50% to Toyota’s UK car output.
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“We are now very much in revival phase with our Burnaston car plant concentrating on core models for the European market,” Walker said.
At the end of last year, Toyota confirmed that its Toyota’s Burnaston factory in Derbyshire would be the sole European manufacturing centre for new generation C-segment hatchbacks – including hybrid, petrol, and diesel models – that will replace the Auris from 2013.
The Burnaston factory is currently building the Avensis and Auris models (including Auris Hybrid). Total car output was 128,000 units in 2011. The Avensis was facelifted in late 2011 and that is expected to help boost output this year to 138,000, according to Walker.
That still leaves plenty of room for additional production if the Auris replacement is a hit in Europe.
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By GlobalData“Burnaston operates on a single line with two shifts and a maximum annual capacity of 170,000 units,” says Walker.
There is a second assembly line at the plant, but that is shut down and Walker says that opening it up again would bring additional cost.
“We could also add another shift to the operating line if we needed to. It is generally more effective and efficient to run one line fast than two slow,” he says.
Toyota says the introduction of the new C-segment model comes with the investment of GBP100m in tooling and will create up to 1,500 additional jobs at Burnaston over the next two years, with the first phase of 500 members to be recruited in the middle of this year.
Toyota’s Turkey car plant, which currently builds the Verso compact MPV and shares production of the Auris hatchback, will become its European centre for C-segment saloon (sedan) production. The saloon mainly sells in southern European markets.
Europe has become Toyota’s global planning centre for small cars (segments A, B and C) with production also at Valenciennes in France (Yaris). The French plant has recently started production of the Yaris Hybrid.
Toyota’s UK sales boss Jon Williams also told just-auto that the company is enjoying higher sales in the UK this year despite a weak car market.
“It’s certainly a tough market, but we are doing well,” he says, pointing to the impact of the facelifted Avensis and all-new Yaris from the second half of last year.
He’s also upbeat about prospects for upcoming hybrid models. In addition to the Yaris Hybrid, the summer will also mark the debut of Prius+, the first seven-seat full hybrid in Europe and a Prius Plug-in.
Williams also notes that the GT86 is coming and believes that the ‘halo car’ will boost the Toyota brand image further.
“Think back to sporty cars like the Supra, Celica, MR2. The dealers are getting excited about the GT86 and the potential to take Toyota to new customers,” he says.
