27/05/2004

1,000 jobs created through £50m Toyota investment

Up to 1,000 new jobs are to be created at Toyota's Burnaston factory, in Derbyshire, after the car-maker announced a £50 million investment in the facility.

The move will bring the corporation's UK industrial headcount up to 4,600 staff by the end of this year. Toyota's latest investment brings its commitment to the UK to £1.75 billion.

The cash boost will see production capacity at the plant increased from 220,000 to 285,000 cars a year.

Toyota said that it was making the investment after earning a record 5.7% of the European car market during the first four months of this year.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said that the investment was "good news", not just for the company but also for the UK automotive industry.

Bryan Jackson, Toyota Manufacturing UK's managing director, said the investment "reflected the importance of the UK to Toyota's European growth".

The Tory shadow transport secretary, Damien Green, said: "If you considered the state of manufacturing 25 years ago it would have been easy to imagine that today there would be no cars manufactured in the UK."

The investment will accelerate introduction of a state-of-the-art body assembly line technology and painting robots as part of maintaining the existing two-shift production process.

(gmcg)

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