BACK IN 1992, Toyota opened its first major European manufacturing facility in Burnaston, Derbyshire, and 30 years later it’s still at the heart of the Japanese firm’s European operations.
The numbers tell an impressive story. Toyota has invested a combined £2.5 billion to date in this facility and its sibling site in North Wales, with a total of 4,579,166 cars being produced in Derby (between 1992 and 2020, the most recent data available). Some 2600 people are employed directly, with a further 800 in North Wales building engines.
These days, the 2.35 million square metre Derbyshire plant is capable of producing one car every 89 seconds, or 3000 a week. The facility is also good for UK plc’s bottom line, as it exports 90% of production overseas, mostly to mainland…