Toyota started making cars in the UK in 1993. Amazingly, it is the last new car assembly plant built in the UK for any volume car maker. The country hasn't been attracting car plant investment for some time. Chery is contemplating doing so but not decided as yet.
The first model was the Carina which became the Avensis in late 1997. The same year, the Corolla (also called the Auris for a while) joined in the same year. The Avensis departed in 2018 but the Corolla has soldiered on alone since then.
Moving on to the motivation for this piece, 5 million cars have now departed from the facility at Burnaston, Derbyshire. That's an average of nearly 170,000 per annum. Amazingly, the split between the two model made there is about 50/50.
If a UK customer buys and registers a Corolla Hatchback, Touring Sport or Corolla Commercial by the 31st December 2024 and they may be one of five customers to win back the cost of their new car. A nice touch.
Summary: Two models improves plant utilsation and cost effectiveness but Toyota has not replaced the Avensis with another model. Surely they will in the future as the volume is now well short of capacity, going by historical numbers.
The 2024 figure is for nine months of 2024. Picture source: Toyota UK.
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