Toyota C-HR production starts at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkiye

•On 9th of November, the first Toyota C-HR rolled of TMMT production lines 
•TMMT became the first Toyota plant outside Japan to produce a vehicle based on Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA)
•Toyota C-HR is Turkiye’s first locally produced hybrid and crossover passenger car 
•Together with Toyota C-HR, TMMT will export to 97 countries globally including North America
 
 
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkiye (TMMT) today held an official ceremony to mark the start of production of Toyota C-HR on 9 November, 2016 at the plant located in Sakarya. The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Mr.Hasan Ali Çelik, Sakarya Governor Hüseyin Avni Coş, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) Mid-size Vehicle Company President Moritaka Yoshida and Toyota Motor Europe (TME) President & CEO Dr. Johann van Zyl. 
 
TMMT is the first plant in the world to start production of Toyota C-HR. Majority of TMMT made Toyota C-HR will be exported to Europe. Significant part of production will be shipped to North American markets including USA, Canada also to Taiwan. While Toyota C-HR is Turkey’s first hybrid vehicle, TMMT has also became the first plant outside Japan to build Toyota C-HR based on Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). The main objectives of TNGA is to develop appealing and eye-catching vehicles through significant improvements in basic performance & optimisation the overall vehicle development process through intelligent part sharing.
 
More than 20 years of experience in high quality production, Toyota C-HR is a symbol of TMMT’s excellence in manufacturing, superior manufacturing capability and high engineering skill.
Toyota C-HR will further strengthen TMMT’s position as a leading high volume manufacturer and global exporter in Turkey. Suppliers of TMMT has also increased their competitiveness thanks to the new technology and new platform of Toyota C-HR. With its distinctive features, Toyota C-HR represents a major step forward for Toyota brand globally and a crucial and highly competitive model in the C segment crossover market.
 
Toyota C-HR is the 3rd model produced at TMMT together with Corolla and Verso. TMMT started to produce 950 units/day of those 3 models and introduced a third production shift from September in line with the 86% increase in total production volume. 
 
An additional EUR 350 million has been invested by TMMT to build Toyota C-HR. Including this new investment, total investment of TMMT will reach to EUR 1.7 billion. Annual production capacity of TMMT became 280,000 units.
 
With the additional 2.000 new member employment, total number of employees reached to 5.000. Hiring will continue by end of 2016.  

Speaking at the ceremony, Hiroshi Kato, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkiye, said: “As a result of these continuous and sustainable efforts to produce high quality vehicles, TMMT has been assigned to lead this big project.This was a reflection of Toyota’s recognition and trust to TMMT.We are proud of TMMT’s manufacturing and engineering capabilities and TMMT quality level recognized as one of the best among overseas plants. We are also very proud of being the first plant outside Japan to produce a vehicle based on TNGA, Toyota new global platform. Today is the newest and very important milestone for us. Toyota C-HR will heighten TMMT’s position as an important exporter in Turkiye. We got huge support from local and national government of Turkiye as well. I really appreciate. Thanks to the close relationships with our suppliers, maintaining quality and ensuring continuous growth is achieved. I appreciate their support. Our members are the major source of our strength. With talented, qualified & hardworking people, we could achieve what we are today. I thank all of them”. 
 
Dr.Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, said: “the crossover segment is growing fast, and this will be Toyota’s very strong entry in the compact cross-over market. Toyota C-HR is a hybrid, which is at the heart of our European and global strategy.  By 2020, we plan to sell one out of every two cars with a hybrid powertrain in Europe. The Toyota C-HR will be a big contributor 
to that goal. We are very pleased to contribute to the economy & society of Sakarya and auto industry in Turkey through these investments and employment. We thank our local suppliers, and the Turkish society as a whole, for allowing us to do so”.
 
 TMC Mid-size Vehicle Company President Moritaka Yoshida said:” When Toyota made the decision to introduce a third model at TMMT, it came as no surprise to me. With this new product, we confirm TMMT’s growing importance in our global production map, and our belief that Turkey is a great place to manufacture cars.Toyota globally admires TMMT’s dedication to quality, hard work, and safety mind-set. We will rely on TMMT to make the Toyota C-HR not just for Europe, but also for other regions. Today it gives me great pleasure to announce to you that starting in early 2017,  TMMT will produce this car for North American market-probably one of the most important market for Toyota globally”.
 
In 1990, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkiye (TMMT) was established as Toyota’s second European plant. 2 years later from ground breaking ceremony in 1992, TMMT started to its production operations in Sakarya with Corolla in 1994. Since year 2002, TMMT has been exporting majority of its production. 
In 2003, company started to double shift operations. With the starting production of Verso, in 2004 capacity increased to 150 thousand from 100 thousand. Production of Auris, C segment hatchback model of Toyota started in 2006. In 2013, in line with Pan EU optimisation and localisation of C segment production strategy in Europe, TMMT started to produce  new generation Corolla at Sakarya plant. In 2014, 20th production history was celebrated in the company. After the production location announcement in February 2016, TMMT starts Toyota C-HR production as of 9th of November.