Thousands of jobs safeguarded as Toyota confirms Burnaston will be the home of its new Auris

Toyota has confirmed that it will build the next generation of its Auris hatchback at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire.

The Japanese carmaker has also said that its Deeside factory in North Wales will build most of the engines for the car.

The move is a massive shot in the arm for the Midlands motor industry and comes after Toyota’s promise to invest £240m in upgrading the Burnaston plant by installing its latest production platform – the Toyota New Global Architecture.

This will ensure it is capable of producing the most advanced models for the European market.

The new Auris will be the third generation of the vehicle to be built at Burnaston.

The move is likely to secure more than 3,000 jobs across its Burnaston and Deeside plants, as well as thousands more in the various supply chains.

Dr Johan van Zyl, president of Toyota Europe, said: “Today’s announcement that we will manufacture the new Auris at Burnaston, with most engines to be supplied from Deeside, shows our confidence in the skills and capabilities of our Toyota UK members.

“As a company, we are doing what we can to secure the competitiveness of our UK operations as a leading manufacturing centre for our European business.

“With around 85% of our UK vehicle production exported to European markets, continued free and frictionless trade between the UK and Europe will be vital for future success.”

The decision has been welcomed by Business Secretary Greg Clark, who was visiting the Burnaston factory to coincide with the announcement.

The production decision was helped in part by government investment of more than £20m announced last year to support the upgrade of the facility and the installation of a new production platform to make the factory more competitive and enable it to build more advanced vehicles.

Mr Clark said: “We have been clear in our commitment to ensuring the automotive sector continues to go from strength to strength which is why, through the Industrial Strategy, we established a landmark Automotive Sector Deal that will see us working with industry to put the UK at the forefront of new technologies and future investment decisions.

“Toyota’s decision to build its new Auris model in Burnaston is testament to the highly-skilled and committed workforce that helps make the UK’s automotive sector one of the most productive in the world, and this government will continue work to create the best possible environment to maintain this fruitful relationship.”

Toyota has a long-established relationship with the UK, producing 4 million vehicles and 5 million engines over the last 25 years.
The UK’s automotive sector continues is currently the third largest car producer in Europe, with the highest productivity among the continent’s automotive producing nations.

The sector generates £14.6 billion, representing 8.2% of the UK’s total manufacturing gross value added.