'Brexit confusion' may have helped swing the decision Poland's way / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP |
Toyota said on Monday that it would boost production of components for hybrid vehicles at its plants in EU member Poland, with local media reporting the choice of location was underpinned by uncertainty over Brexit.
Toyota
Motor Europe said it would invest 140 million euros ($155 million) in Poland to
increase production at its hybrid-oriented plant in the southwestern city of
Walbrzych, according to a Monday statement.
"High
interest in this (hybrid) technology in Europe, confirmed by rapidly growing
sales, which now already amount to over 50 percent of the total volume of
orders for Toyota models, resulted in the decision to locate two further
investments in our Polish factory," Toyota said in a Monday statement.
Toyota
chose Poland for its only other hybrid production and development facility
outside Japan, it added.
Although
the company made no reference to the challenges it faces in Europe posed by
Brexit, Polish media were quick to underline that uncertainty over the terms of
Britain's withdrawal from the EU meant the company chose not to expand
production at its plants in the UK.
Several
Polish media sources said that Toyota had initially planned to expand
production at its Deeside engine plant in Britain, but changed its mind over
concerns linked to Brexit.
"Although
Toyota does not want to comment on this, the increase in investment in Poland
was also affected by the confusion associated with Brexit," wrote Puls
Biznesu, a leading Polish economic daily, on Monday.
Plans call
for the new investment in Poland to be completed by 2022, giving Toyota's two
plants in Poland the capacity to produce some 309,000 hybrid engines per year.
The engines
are destined for Toyota, PSA and Lotus assembly lines in the Czech Republic,
Britain, France, Turkey and Russia, as well as in South Africa and Japan.
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