Toyota UK Production By Model : 1993 - 2014

Toyota has made cars in the UK (near Derby) since 1993 and engines at Deeside, Wales from late 1992. Only two models have ever been built there at any given time, with other models made elsewhere in Europe.

It started with the Carina, a medium sized 4-door car which was moderately successful. The Carina was then replaced by the larger Avensis in 1998. I haven't got a split between models in the change over year, but I presume there was some overlap. Just over 400,000 Carina cars were made in five years.

The Avensis came as a 4-door, liftback and estate car (wagon) but the liftback is no longer in the mix. I read recently of a UK rep who drives many cars and said the current Avensis was one of his top three for covering miles effortlessly. To date over 1.8 million have been made in the UK.

Going on to the smaller model made, Corolla production commenced in 1997 and just over 700,000 were made. The Auris then replaced the Corolla hatchback in 2007 and more recently was offered as a Tourer variant as well. A hybrid option is now available, which has proved popular. To the end of 2014, 730,000 had come off the assembly line.

	Year	Auris	Avensis	Corolla	Carina	Total
	1993	-	-	-	37,314	37,314
	1994	-	-	-	85,467	85,467
	1995	-	-	-	88,440	88,440
	1996	-	-	-	116,973	116,973
	1997	-	-	17,083	87,532	104,615
	1998	-	157,796	14,546	-	172,342
	1999	-	120,712	57,948	-	178,660
	2000	-	114,759	56,580	-	171,339
	2001	-	110,598	44,211	-	154,809
	2002	-	72,700	139,041	-	211,741
	2003	-	144,635	65,982	-	210,617
	2004	-	177,813	66,986	-	244,799
	2005	-	156,090	108,189	-	264,279
	2006	-	147,921	134,293	-	282,214
	2007	120,317	145,669	11,839	-	277,825
	2008	102,588	110,741	-	-	213,329
	2009	50,212	77,182	-	-	127,394
	2010	68,687	68,367	-	-	137,054
	2011	57,411	70,735	-	-	128,146
	2012	48,820	60,682	-	-	109,502
	2013	142,578	36,655	-	-	179,233
	2014	140,068	32,147	-	-	172,215
	Total	730,681	1,805,202	716,698	415,726	3,668,307

Nearly 3.7 million Toyota cars have been built at the Burnaston plant since 1993 and the 4 million mark should be passed by the end of 2016. The Auris is a solid, well made car that appeals to those who want safe, reliable motoring while the Tourer version adds the versatility that a wagon brings in a stylish way. The Auris range is about to get a facelift, which should lift production numbers.

The Avensis is a fine car which deserves to do better. Sales were good initially but have fallen away of late. It has recently had a major refresh which should assist sales to rebound. If I was considering a large car in Europe, the Avensis would be the first on my list to test drive. 

Toyota has taken a measured approach to UK car production. Toyota isn't a huge selling make in Europe, and Burnaston production is almost exclusively for the European market. You would think an SUV model would be a nice addition to the production line.

Sweden Car Sales By Brand : 2000-04

The Saab 9-5 enjoying the sea air

After the surge in car sales in the late 90's, things settled down as the 21st century arrived. Volvo held its sales well and Saab came back to take 2nd spot back from VW. US brands (coloured purple) had a poor run at this time with GM's Opel especially doing it tough. European marques (pale blue) were very strong while Asian makes were not doing quite as well.

Brands that increased their sales really improved their market share in the process. BMW went form 2.1% share in 1999 to 3.3% in 2004. Toyota went from 5.4% to 7.3% in the same period.  Further down Kia jumped from 0.4% to 0.8%.

	Brand	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	Volvo	54,883	48,738	50,191	49,647	53,197
	Saab	27,103	24,652	26,052	27,044	25,085
	VW	30,532	24,000	23,752	22,700	21,042
	Toyota	16,995	15,282	14,906	18,384	19,247
	Peugeot	9,844	11,144	14,959	17,381	18,521
	Ford	18,078	17,784	17,710	16,598	15,868
	Renault	18,800	14,797	17,628	14,523	14,100
	Audi	12,293	10,082	10,404	10,894	11,187
	Hyundai	6,506	6,916	7,696	7,998	9,560
	Citroën	2,771	5,305	7,567	10,464	9,421
	Opel	15,191	12,730	9,739	10,037	9,338
	BMW	6,972	7,754	7,616	7,202	8,834
	Škoda	14,650	8,173	8,466	8,553	8,737
	Mercedes	7,140	6,517	6,338	6,215	6,181
	Nissan	7,419	5,496	5,478	5,656	5,215
	Mitsubishi	9,094	5,613	5,511	5,649	4,560
	Honda	2,669	1,939	2,487	2,662	3,121
	Mazda	4,674	3,034	3,156	3,727	2,805
	Suzuki	3,648	1,640	1,487	2,350	2,744
	Chrysler	2,758	2,960	2,241	1,702	2,431
	Kia	1,323	771	878	1,441	2,118
	Subaru	1,582	775	831	1,040	2,090
	Daewoo	849	60		880	2,054
	Seat	6,625	3,576	2,450	1,892	1,519
	Fiat	2,534	2,404	1,827	1,136	934
	GM US	1,699	1,531	2,047	1,949	800
	MG Rover	1,140	191	326	821	564
	MINI		147	456	488	497
	Lexus	455	450	407	485	490
	Jaguar	329	362	292	348	416
	smart	121	143	251	334	386
	Land Rover	770	604	668	422	367
	Alfa Romeo	790	717	524	248	336
	Porsche	114	172	141	229	312
	Others	178	122	107	107	135
	Total	290,529	246,581	254,589	261,206	264,212

Data source: ABStatistik.

All other articles in the series: 1950-54, 1955-59, 1960-64, 1965-69, 1970-74,
1975-79, 1980-84, 1985-89, 1990-94, 1995-99, 2005-09, and 2010-14.

The 2nd generation Volvo S40 came out in 2004 (photo Volvo)