Report: Toyota to boost GR Corolla production using UK plant

Massive demand from the US could boost the Burnaston plant's output, according to Reuters Toyota is looking at building the GR Corolla hot hatch in the UK in a bid to cater to massive demand in the US. According to a new report from Reuters, the Japanese company is considering spending £41 million to establish a new line at its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire. The factory already produces the regular Corolla hatchback and estate for the UK and mainland European markets. The new line would give it the capacity to build around 10,000 examples of the GR Corolla annually, for export to the US, Reuters said. The publication added that Toyota’s Motomachi plant in Japan – the so-called GR Factory, responsible for output of the GR Corolla, GR Yaris and GR86 – is currently at full capacity. It assembled 25,000 cars last year, of which around a third were Corollas. Burnaston already has a ready supply of Corolla bodies and ancillaries and that makes it a “natural choice” to accommodate additional production of GRs, Reuters said, citing a Toyota insider. Although the plan to boost GR Corolla production through the UK has not been informed by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, the decision surely benefits Toyota on that front. The US currently charges a tariff of 25% on all cars imported to the country from abroad, including Japan. However, the UK recently agreed to negotiate a deal that will cut the fee for its exports to 10%, within a national quota of 100,000 cars. Final details have yet to be confirmed but at present Toyota would have to pay a smaller fee on UK-built GR Corollas than those from Japan. The prospect of adding production in the UK also lends weight to the possibility that the GR Corolla – currently offered in only a handful of markets, including the US and Japan – could be set for a launch in Europe. Prototypes were last year spotted testing at Germany's Nürburgring, hinting at a launch. A spokesperson suggested it was standard procedure to test global products at the circuit but did not deny the prospect. Toyota currently sells the GR Yaris and the GR Supra in Europe, the GR86 having been killed off in that market (including the UK) by the European Union’s GSR2 safety regulations. The Supra is soon to follow. Regardless, the reported plan to produce GR Corollas in the UK will come as welcome news to staff at the Burnaston plant, which last year built its five millionth car since opening in 1992. A spokesperson for Toyota told Autocar that the company could not comment on the report at this time.

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