Toyota passes 5 million production milestone in France
- The 5 millionth vehicle has rolled off the production line at Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF) since operation began in 2001.
- A bespoke Yaris Cross, designed at Toyota Europe Design Development (ED²) in Nice and painted in the French tricolour was unveiled.
- Yaris Cross is Toyota’s top seller in Europe and market leader of the B-SUV segment.
Toyota Motor Europe celebrated yesterday 5 million vehicles production at its Valenciennes plant in northern France. To mark this milestone, a bespoke Yaris Cross, designed by Toyota Europe Design Development (ED²) was revealed. The vehicle, produced at the plant, is painted in the French tricolour to mark the occasion. The celebration was attended by 200 guests, including the French Minister Delegate for Industry, Marc Ferracci.
The milestone marks a real feat with an impressive production volume reached in less than 24 years. It is the fruit of the hard work and passion of our teams and also all our partners, suppliers, and stakeholders including local and national French authorities. It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meet the European market’s expectations with the quality the Toyota brand is known for.
TMMF started production of the Toyota Yaris in January 2001 with an initial annual production capacity of 150,000 units. The Yaris became the most produced single model in France seven times over 10 years. Since its introduction in 2021, the Yaris Cross has quickly established its strong position in the fast-growing European B-SUV market, and was the most produced single model in France in 2022 and 2023. The Yaris Cross now leads the European B-SUV segment and is Toyota’s top-selling model, with sales of 173,209 units in the first 10 months of 2024.
In 2023, the Valenciennes plant produced 273,788 units of both Yaris Cross and Yaris, the largest output amongst Toyota’s five vehicle assembly facitilies across Europe. 5,000 employees produce more than 1,200 Yaris Cross and Yaris vehicles every day, all of which are the hybrid versions. Toyota has made a total cumulative investment of 1.6 billion euros in TMMF’s facilities, including the capital investments for each new generation and model, as well as significant resources for continuously improving the manufacturing operation’s environmental performance.
Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA (TME) oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of Toyota, GR (Gazoo Racing) and Lexus vehicles and parts and accessories, as well as Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly employs over 25,000 people and has invested over EUR 11 billion in Europe since 1990. Its eight European manufacturing plants are located in Portugal, the UK, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey. Today, there are approximately 14.7 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles on European roads, whose drivers are supported by a network of 28 National Marketing and Sales Companies and around 2,800 retail sales outlets in 53 countries (EU, UK, EFTA countries , Israel, Turkey and other Eastern European countries). In 2023, TME sold 1,173,419 vehicles in Europe for a 6.7% market share. For more information, visit www.toyota-europe.com.
Toyota believes that when people are free to move, anything is possible. In the pursuit of "Mobility for All", Toyota aims to create safer, more connected, inclusive and sustainable mobility to achieve its mission of producing “Happiness for All”. In Europe, TME launched the KINTO mobility brand which offers a range of mobility services in 20 countries, and is growing its business-to-business sales of zero-emission fuel cell products and engineering support. Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Toyota is working to achieve carbon neutrality in its entire business across Europe. A historic leader in CO2 reduction in Europe, TME aims to achieve 100% CO2 reduction in all new vehicles in Western Europe by 2035 and will continue to offer a full range of electrified powertrains to customers across the region with its hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery and fuel cell electric vehicles.