Toyota Motor Europe celebrated yesterday 5 million vehicles production at its Valenciennes plant in northern France. To mark this milestone, a bespoke Yaris Cross, designed by Toyota Europe Design Development (ED²) was revealed. The vehicle, produced at the plant, is painted in the French tricolour to mark the occasion. The celebration was attended by 200 guests, including the French Minister Delegate for Industry, Marc Ferracci.
The milestone marks a real feat with an impressive production volume reached in less than 24 years. It is the fruit of the hard work and passion of our teams and also all our partners, suppliers, and stakeholders including local and national French authorities. It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meet the European market’s expectations with the quality the Toyota brand is known for.
Rodolphe Delaunay, President & CEO, Toyota Motor Manufacturinrg France
TMMF started production of the Toyota Yaris in January 2001 with an initial annual production capacity of 150,000 units. The Yaris became the most produced single model in France seven times over 10 years. Since its introduction in 2021, the Yaris Cross has quickly established its strong position in the fast-growing European B-SUV market, and was the most produced single model in France in 2022 and 2023. The Yaris Cross now leads the European B-SUV segment and is Toyota’s top-selling model, with sales of 173,209 units in the first 10 months of 2024.
In 2023, the Valenciennes plant produced 273,788 units of both Yaris Cross and Yaris, the largest output amongst Toyota’s five vehicle assembly facitilies across Europe. 5,000 employees produce more than 1,200 Yaris Cross and Yaris vehicles every day, all of which are the hybrid versions. Toyota has made a total cumulative investment of 1.6 billion euros in TMMF’s facilities, including the capital investments for each new generation and model, as well as significant resources for continuously improving the manufacturing operation’s environmental performance.
SOURCE: Toyota