Toyota has confirmed that it will produce GR Corollas at its Burnaston plant from next year. Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK has been selected to make the hot hatches ‘on the basis of manufacturing capability and motorsport expertise’. A welcome bit of good news for car making in the UK, which needs the fillip more than ever. Last October, the five-millionth UK-built Toyota left Burnaston.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the manufacturer has seen ‘increasing market demand’ for the GR Yaris’s big brother, and therefore wants to make more of them to satisfy that demand. Prep has been underway since last year ahead of going online in ‘26, so clearly this surfeit of interest has been underway for a while. Plus, don’t forget, Burnaston is already Toyota’s European hub for the Corolla; while the GR is a very different prospect to the average hybrid hatch, it is obviously easier to kit out a facility for a flagship of an existing model than start from scratch.
Yoshihiro Nakata, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, said: “We are proud that TMUK, our first plant in Europe, has also been selected as the first overseas Toyota plant to produce GR vehicles, securing this expansion project for TGR worldwide. We very much appreciate the historical support and recognition of the United Kingdom and would like to continue to contribute to UK society as a ‘Best in Town’ company.”
All very nice. But Toyota hasn’t forgotten about the most important part of this announcement from a PH perspective: it puts a GR Corolla production facility much closer to those people who want to buy them. Today’s release says the move ‘reflects Toyota’s efforts to optimise its global production footprint to produce and deliver vehicles to customers as swiftly as possible.’ While there are always regulations and emissions to think of - look at how many GR Yarises can now be sold against just a few years ago - it’s easy to imagine a good few interested parties for an official, UK-supplied and built 300hp Corolla. Even if it had to be a £50k-plus prospect. We just have to hope that this isn’t like the Swindon-built Civic Type Rs of old, where the best versions were assembled here and only sold in Japan. We’re told to expect details how many GRs will be made in Derbyshire and where they'll be sold at a later date. Keep your fingers crossed…
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