May. 27, 2004

Toyota Increases its Production Capacity in Europe

 

TME issued the following release ---- Toyota increases production capacity in Europe ---- on May 27.

Toyota today announced it will increase its production capacity in Europe to respond to record demand for its vehicles. Annual production capacity at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) will increase from the current 220,000 vehicles to 285,000 Toyota Corolla and Avensis models. This will result in an additional investment of around ￡50 million, and the creation of around 500 new jobs. In early May, Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF) increased its annual production capacity from 184,000 to 210,000 Yaris models, adding 500 new employees. Depending on market demand, TMMF’s output could be increased to a possible 240,000 units annually.

The increased production at TMMF and TMUK will lead to improvements in capacity utilisation, and is expected to benefit Toyota 's profitability in Europe.

Last year, Toyota announced that TMUK would increase its annual production capacity to 270,000 units . Since then, i n order to respond to increasing demand, TMUK has decided to strengthen its two-shift formula by accelerat ing and expand ing its equipment investment program. This includes adding a second Global Body Line, with conveyor-less transfer of vehicles bodies to increase flexibility, and installing the latest, highly efficient cartridge gun robots to replace existing automated spraying machines .

With the current annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles at its Turkish Adapazari plant (TMMT) and the planned capacity increase at TMMF and TMUK, Toyota will have a total production capacity of 645,000 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.

In 2004, Toyota expects to build 565,000 vehicles, 466,000 engines and 198,000 transmissions.

Toyota has already invested ￡1.7 billion in its plants at Burnaston and Deeside, which were the company's first manufacturing sites in Europe . In December 2002 they celebrated their 10 th anniversary, having produced over 1.6 million vehicles and 1.5 million engines in the U.K. In January 2003, the Burnaston plant started manufacturing the all - new Toyota Avensis, alongside the Toyota Corolla. The UK-built Toyota Avensis was the first Toyota to be exported from Europe to Japan . TMUK currently employs around 4,850 people.

Toyota has invested €710 million in its Valenciennes plant in the north of France , which has been making the Yaris model since January 2001. T he plant also assembles 30,000 diesel engines annually, in addition to 150,000 petrol engines, for the Toyota Yaris. TMMF currently employs more than 3,200 people.

Toyota sold an all-time record 343,926 units in the period from January to April 2004, an increase of 22% over the first quarter of 2003. Toyota 's European market share reached 5.3%, up from 4.6 % last year. Toyota achieved a seventh consecutive record year of sales in Europe in 2003, with 834,661 vehicles delivered - a rise of 10% over the previous year.