Yeni Şafak – Toyota’s Türkiye plant received the green light for the production of the company’s new compact sport utility vehicle (SUV), expected to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The final version of the C-HR concept will enter production at the company’s Adapazari, Sakarya plant in northwestern Türkiye, becoming the Turkish automotive industry’s first hybrid and SUV.
Announced by Toyota Motors Europe CEO Johan van Zyl, the decision to choose Adapazari as the production location will increase capacity at the plant to 280,000 vehicles per year from its current level of 150,000.
“I am proud that the new vehicle will be produced in our Turkish plant. The increase in production capacity reflects the popularity of the new vehicle type,” van Zyl stated.
The Japanese automaker will invest USD 450 million in the project, taking its investment total in Türkiye to USD 2.3 billion dollars.
Toyota Türkiye’s newly-appointed CEO Hiroshi Kato said that the addition of a third model to the production line would mean creating an extra 1000 jobs at the Adapazari plant. Highlighting the Turkish government’s strong support for the project, Kato said that new model will be exported to 53 countries.
The C-HR will be based on Toyota’s New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform, designed to cut costs by standardizing and sharing parts and components across vehicles of the same segment. Adapazari will be first Toyota plant outside Japan to utilize the TNGA. The market name, vehicle and powertrain details of the vehicle will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show.
Currently, Toyota’s Corolla and Verso models are in production at the Adapazari plant. The plant exported 82,000 of the 116,000 vehicles it produced in 2015.
In addition to Toyota, Türkiye is an export hub for other car producers including Ford, Renault, Fiat, Honda, and Hyundai, all of which run manufacturing operations in the country.