Afternoon:
12°c
Toyota is to build a major hybrid car in the UK for the first time, possibly creating thousands of new jobs, reports claimed today.
The car giant, whose Prius petrol-electric has led the way in big-selling green family cars, will be producing the hybrid version of its Auris hatchback here, reports in a Japanese newspaper said.
Such a commitment would be a big boost for the government's much-criticised boast that it will create a “green economy”.
While the paper did not say which UK plant would be making the car, it is likely that it would be split between Toyota's Deeside engine-making plant in North Wales and its vehicle-manufacturing factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire. The plant will be used to export hybrid Auris cars across Europe and would form a central part of new president Akio Toyoda's plan to focus on offering hybrids there.
Analysts say it is something of a risky strategy for a continent which favours diesel cars in many countries.
Most of Toyota's hybrids are made in Japan, but it also produces a small number of Prius vehicles in China and a Camry hybrid in Kentucky.
It has already announced plans to build the Prius in Mississippi, ironically at a plant that used to make gas-guzzling four-wheel drives.
The Auris hybrid production is due to start in the UK in around 2012, the newspaper reported.
Toyota declined to comment.
