Toyota announced Thursday that it will start making its next generation hybrid engines this year in a venture that will be backed by a £7 million investment.
The new engines will be produced at the Japanese automaker's Deeside factory in Northern Wales, which consists of 540 employees, before being exported to Turkey to be built in a crossover based on the company's C-HR concept car, according to BBC News.
Toyota will build the 1.8 liter engines alongside current petrol and hybrid petrol engines for the Auris model, which the company sends to its Burnaston plant that produces the vehicle.
"This announcement is a big vote of confidence in the high skills, quality and commitment of our workforce," engine plant director Jim Crosbie said.
Crosbie added that Toyota picked Deeside to be their first European plant to manufacture a hybrid engine, WalesOnline reported.
European chief executive Johan van Zyl said at a news conference that Toyota's Turkish plant will experience several benefits from the investment, including the creation of over 1,000 jobs and an increase in production capacity from 150,000 vehicles to 280,000, Reuters noted.
"This is the first time somebody will make a hybrid vehicle in Turkey," van Zyl said. "The new model will be a crossover, a kind of SUV (sport utility vehicle), the entire world is moving to this kind of body style."
Toyota officials said that the company will announce the name of the new model at the Gevena auto show in March. Van Zyl said that Toyota will export the vehicle to 53 countries.
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