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Toyota Commits to Staying in UK Long-Term

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Toyota Burnaston UK

Toyota’s plant in Burnaston, UK produces the Avensis, Auris, and Auris Hybrid
Photo: Toyota UK

Toyota is responsible for producing more than 10% of the UK’s vehicles in 2014 and employs almost 3,500 people in the country. So it’s understandable that Britons were worried when Prime Minister David Cameron urged the country’s largest companies, including Toyota, to threaten to leave if the UK were to exit the European Union.

But, according to Toyota president Akio Toyoda, those concerns are unwarranted, as the automaker plans to remain in the UK for the foreseeable future. Toyota buried a time capsule at its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire, 25 years ago, and plans to be there to open it in 2090, once 100 years have elapsed. The automaker also has an engine plant in Deeside, North Wales.

“In the sense that investment equals capacity, then various things come into it, like the size of the market,” explained Toyoda to the Financial Times. “But there are other kinds of investment: in research, in development, in people. Some you can see and some you can’t, some take a long time to pay off, but when we have the strength I think it’s important for us to make those investments.”

News Source: Financial Times (subscription required)