Toyota has said it plans to build battery vehicles in the UK in the future as it seeks to keep all of its European plants open, although it will be cautious before switching away from fossil fuels.
The Japanese company, the world’s largest carmaker by sales, said it wanted to retain all eight of its European factories through the transition to electric cars, as it announced two new electric models and promised another three by 2026 under its main brand. It also showed a new electric model under its premium Lexus brand, with two more to come this year.
The manufacturer was one of the leaders in making hybrid cars that combine a petrol or diesel engine with a small battery, but it has been much slower to switch production over to pure battery electric vehicles than rivals.
That cautious approach has paid off financially in recent months as the pace of growth in battery car sales has slowed in some markets, including Europe. The company upgraded its profit forecasts last month after selling 10.8m cars in 2024.
Matt Harrison, the chief corporate officer at Toyota Motor Europe, said the company would try to retain its eight European factories but that it would make the move to electric production gradually “over the next decade”. Toyota opened its UK plants in 1992 and they employ about 3,000 people.
Toyota is aiming to keep European sales at about the 1.2m it achieved in 2024, a market share of 7%. Speaking at a launch event in Brussels last week, Harrison said car companies were facing “encouragement to localise supply chains” because of increasing trade barriers. Global trade frictions and tariffs are expected by most experts to increase as Donald Trump continues his trade war against erstwhile allies.
Toyota makes the Corolla hatchback at Burnaston, Derbyshire, and has other car plants in France, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Turkey.
Asked if the Burnaston plant had a future making battery cars, Harrison said: “Ultimately that’s our goal, yes. We see that we want to keep all of our manufacturing assets and particularly with the geopolitical […] trends that we see now.”
The new electric models were an updated version of the bZ4X, the C-HR+ SUV, which is an electric version of its existing petrol C-HR, and the Lexus RZ.
Toyota’s confidence in the future of its UK plants will be welcomed by the government, amid repeated criticisms from the industry of rules that force carmakers to sell an increasing number of electric cars every year. The UK government has pledged to relax the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate – despite the concerns of environmental campaigners – arguing the industry needed respite.
On a trip to Japan last week, the UK business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told Toyota and its smaller Japanese rival Nissan that the government would “do everything possible to ensure automotive manufacturing remains in the UK”, including loosening the ZEV mandate.
Toyota was also particularly concerned with the UK including some hybrids in a ban on new petrol and diesel cars between 2030 and 2035. A ban on models not capable of running on zero-emissions power could have ruled out models such as the Prius. However, the government is now expected to allow Prius-style hybrids, in part because of Toyota’s lobbying.
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Harrison said allowing hybrids until 2035 was “a no-brainer” because it moved the UK in line with the EU. He added that there was “no direct connection between Burnaston’s future and the ZEV mandate” because of its focus on exporting vehicles to Europe.
“It’s the speed of transition in mainland Europe, not the UK, which will have the biggest bearing on sustainability of TMUK,” he said, referring to the UK factory. “Our strategy in Europe is we don’t believe we need to change our manufacturing footprint very much … we’re not looking to downsize, consolidate, or build a new plant.”
That plan also applies to plants making engines, including sites in Deeside, north Wales, and Poland. Harrison emphasised that the company would not rush to make the switch because it is not certain over how quickly demand for electric cars will increase over the next decade.
“We have to pick the moment of transition very carefully,” Harrison said. “We have to have critical mass and volume, otherwise we can’t have a competitive supply chain.”
Toyota, under Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, has faced criticism for its ongoing support for the polluting internal combustion engine. It is continuing development for six types of propulsion technology: battery cars, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids capable of being charged with a plug, plus technologies not seen to have a significant future for mass-market cars, including hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen combustion and “carbon-neutral” petrol.
Toyota also revealed plans to build an electric “microcar” to rival Stellantis’s Citroën Ami, the Swiss-made Microlino and a series of Chinese competitors. Toyota’s FT-Me concept car will, if brought to full production, qualify as a quadricycle, meaning it could be driven by 14-year-olds in countries including France without a full licence.
Source: theguardian.com
