Toyota Invests Almost €18 Million in France Yaris Plant

Toyota today announced it will invest an additional €17.8 million in its Yaris production plant in Valenciennes, France, in order to better respond to European parts demand. The investment will be used to expand Toyota Motor Manufacturing France’s (TMMF) press shop facilities, creating 30 new jobs. In early May, 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.

Toyota has already invested €710 million in its Valenciennes plant in the north of France, which has been making the Yaris model since January 2001. The plant also assembles 30,000 diesel engines annually, in addition to 150,000 petrol engines, for the Toyota Yaris. TMMF currently employs almost 3,300 people.

In May, Toyota also announced that annual production capacity at its vehicle plant in Burnaston, U.K. – 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.

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

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.

ENDS