Toyota Holds Opening Ceremony for
TMUK's Second Assembly Plant

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) held the opening ceremony for its second assembly plant at Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited (TMUK), its production base in the United Kingdom.

Production of the Corolla liftback for Europe already began at the new plant in September. As a result, production capacity for the entire TMUK assembly plant, including the European Avensis model at the first plant, will be around 220,000 units per year.

The ceremony was held on the TMUK grounds (Burnaston, Derbyshire) on October 12, at 11:30 a.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Japan time). Among the many honored guests present were British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Lower House Speaker Margaret Beckett. TMC President Hiroshi Okuda and TMUK President Toshio Mizushima also attended.

TMC plans to progressively expand localized production in the UK. It will up the annual production capacity of its Deeside engine plant from 100,000 units to 200,000 units by the end of 1999, and then raise it once again in 2001 for a total capacity of around 350,000 to 400,000 units.