According to two persons with knowledge of the situation, Toyota intends to shift some of its GR Corolla sports car production to Britain and will invest around $56 million in a specialized line there to increase exports for North America.
According to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Toyota wants to leverage extra capacity in Britain to help it reduce delivery wait times for the car by moving some production from Japan. They maintained the action was not a response to President Donald Trump’s auto import taxes.
This month, the Trump administration decided to lower British auto import duties to 10% for up to 100,000 automobiles annually. Japan is attempting to have the 25% car tariffs that it has been subjected to removed.
In Japan, Toyota manufactures the GR Corolla for the domestic market as well as for export to North America and other countries. However, because engine fans are so interested in the gasoline-powered automobile, it hasn’t been able to meet demand in North America, according to the people.
The people said it will invest about 8 billion yen ($56 million) and establish a production line at the Burnaston facility in Derbyshire to produce 10,000 cars a year for export to North America starting in the middle of 2026.
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Burnaston has state-of-the-art production technology and started operations in 1992. The people claimed that since Brexit, its output has decreased. One person stated that it was an obvious decision because the facility already manufactures the Corolla hatchback, which is the base model for the Corolla GR.
According to the individuals, engineers would be temporarily sent from Japan to exchange production techniques and other knowledge.
Toyota stated that it was constantly searching for methods to maximize production in response to inquiries. The corporation stated it has not made any public announcements about the findings.
