Built in Europe: 10 million Toyotas

Toyota’s European production has just passed 10 million units, enough vehicles to almost circle the globe, parked nose-to-tail.

The first car built in the region was a Corolla, assembled from a knock-down kit by Salvador Caetano in Portugal in 1971. Today Toyotas are built at six European factories, with three further sites producing engines and transmissions. Their focus is on cars for local customers: currently around three in every four new Toyotas sold in Europe are built here, too.

Carina E 11

An original Carina E, among the first Toyota to be built at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s Burnaston factory, took its place among the current model range at Toyota’s European headquarters in Brussels for celebrations to mark delivery of the 10 millionth vehicle.

Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, said: “Toyota’s heartbeat is in manufacturing, and our thousands of European team members are very proud to have helped us produce 10 million cars here.

“Our European manufacturing track record includes building the first B-segment hybrid car sold in Europe; assembling hybrid engines; and exporting vehicles to North America and even Japan. The future is looking just as solid: over the next two years, we expect our overall production in Europe to increase by a further 20 per cent.”

10 million - C-HR

Last year the annual production total was 600,000. This year the Toyota C-HR crossover will go into production in Turkey, while Toyota Motor Russia will start manufacturing the new RAV4 for its home and neighbouring markets.

10 million - RAV4 Hybrid

In addition to the growing number of cars being produced locally, Toyota’s European operations have gained increasing autonomy and influence within the global business to design models tailored to the taste of European customers. The latest Yaris, Auris and Avensis were all styled at ED2, Toyota’s design centre in France, and developed at the company’s technical centre in Belgium.

Toyota Manufacturing UK

Toyota Manufacturing UK (TMUK) was Toyota’s first volume production operation in Europe and it continues to play a central role producing Avensis and Auris models at the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire and engines at its factory in Deeside, North Wales.

10 million - Auris road

Since TMUK began production in 1992, it has delivered 4.77 million vehicles and manufactured 2.78 million engines (plus many more engines assembled from kits). The cars built in the UK are principally for the European market, but a proportion are exported to other world markets.

TMUK has to date benefited from more than £2.2 billion investment and has the distinction of being Toyota’s first site in Europe to produce hybrid vehicles,  with the start of first generation Auris Hybrid production in 2010.

UK hybrid sales

In April Toyota’s cumulative hybrid vehicle sales in the UK passed 150,000 units since the original Prius went on sale here in 2000. Today British customers can choose from six Toyota full hybrid models, including the British-built Auris Hybrid and the newly launched RAV4 Hybrid.

Prius 1 02

European manufacturing overview

Wholly-owned plants: –

  • Toyota Manufacturing UK, which started production in 1992, currently manufactures the Avensis saloon and Touring Sports and the Auris hatchback and Touring Sports, including Auris hybrids, at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire.
  • TMUK also produces 1.6 and 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engines, and assembles hybrid engines at its Deeside plant in North Wales. From the second half of 2016, it will produce the new hybrid engine for the Toyota C-HR.  The Deeside plant also opened for business in 1992.
  • Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey started production in 1994 and is currently producing the Corolla and Verso models. In 2016 the plant will launch production of the Toyota C-HR, including the hybrid version.
  • Toyota Motor Manufacturing France opened in 2001 and is currently building the the third generation Yaris (including the hybrid). Since 2013 it has been sending cars for export to the North American market.
  • Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland came on stream in 2002. It produces 1.0-litre petrol engines for Aygo and Yaris and manual transmissions for Auris, Avensis, Verso, Corolla and Aygo.
  • Operational since 2005, Toyota Motor Industries Poland builds 2.0 and 2.2-litre D-4D diesel engines for Avensis, the Auris range, Verso and RAV4, and 1.4-litre D-4D diesel engines for Yaris, the Auris range, and Corolla.

Partially-owned plants: –

  • Toyota’s joint venture with Groupe PSA, the Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech plant in the Czech Republic, has been manufacturing Toyota Aygo models since 2005.
  • Toyota Caetano Portugal S.A. started complete knock-down (CKD) production in 1971 and is currently producing the Toyota Land Cruiser 70 for export to South Africa.

Facts and figures: –

  • The current European sales share of locally produced Toyota vehicles is 71 per cent.
  • Investments to date in Europe exceed £7.8 billion
  • Toyota’s network of about 400 suppliers in Europe sources parts from more than 600 manufacturing sites in the region, further contributing to the European economy.

Today, around 24 per cent of all vehicles sold by Toyota and Lexus in Europe are hybrids, the majority of which are built in Europe.  In 2015, European hybrid sales reached a record high of 209,000 units; more than 150,000 of these were built at TMMF (Yaris) and TMUK (Auris and Auris Touring Sports).

20 comments

  1. have bought a new RAV4 icon awd auto in Jan 2017 but I cannot find where it was built/assembled

  2. Hi Andrew,
    Thank you for getting in touch. All RAV4 models are built and assembled in Japan and then shipped over to the UK. Hope this helps.

    1. Hi George,
      Thanks for getting in touch. We can confirm that your RAV4 will have been built in Japan. Thanks.

  3. I ordered a RAV 4 Dynamic on 14th January 2020 and was told the delivery date would be around June 2020. Will this be built in Japan or Russia? I was also told that it now has an 8 speed auto box and not a CVT. Can you please confirm which it will be as I seem to be getting mixed answers from the dealer. The salesman said that it was the 8 speed auto but the order form just says CVT.
    Thank you.
    Peter.

    1. Hi Peter,

      Thanks for getting in touch. It’s great to hear you’ve ordered a new RAV4. All RAV4s sold in the UK are built in Japan and are all available with a CVT transmission. If you could please let us know the name of the dealer, we will be able to investigate this further for you.

      Thanks.

  4. Just a question about Toyota cars sold in the Benelux . What Toyota model exported to this area are not been build in the UK ? After Brexit I don t like to buy any UK products so i need to know what models are produced in the EU or in Japan .Thank you . R.

  5. Hi there all atToyota,
    Have just ordered (Jan, 2022), a Rav4 hybrid, which we have long admired and saved for.
    Will the vehicle be built and delivered from Japan please, and will the dreadful
    situation in Ukraine, (may God help them), cause any problems?
    Thank you very much

    1. Hi Geoff,
      Thanks for your comment.
      The RAV4 Hybrid is manufactured in Aichi, Japan.
      We hope this helps.
      Thanks.

      1. Hi, thank you for the earlier response. As I said, I ordered in Jan, so nearly 6 months. Without being specific to my Rav4, is there an average time one could expect to wait please?
        Thanks
        Geoff

      2. Hi Geoff,
        Unfortunately, due to current delays, there is not a set waiting time.
        We would recommend contacting your Toyota Centre for the estimated ETA of your order.
        Thanks.

  6. Where was a UK March 2020 Rav4 Hybrid manufactured? And do they have the same battery as any other Rav4 Hybrid produced in this time?

    1. Hi Benjamin, thanks for getting in touch.

      Please provide a vehicle registration so that we can look into this for you.

      Thanks.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To be the first to hear about all of our latest news, offers and events, check the box below, we’ll send these communications by email, phone, SMS or post. Be assured that Toyota will only share your personal information with companies that are an integral part of fulfilling the services we deliver. If you would like to find out more about how we process your data please visit our privacy policy for details.

I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time.