Toyota Motor Corp. reaffirmed its commitment to the United Kingdom after a report that the company may stop producing cars in the country due to government plans to transition to fully electric vehicles more quickly.
As the United Kingdom prepares to set new targets for the auto industry, the Japanese automaker said it is ready to sell only zero-emission vehicles and reiterated its belief that hybrids will play a role in the transition by 2035. Toyota is committed to achieving a long-term and sustainable future in Europe, including at its British plants, according to an emailed statement from the automaker.
The company was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that it had warned Transport Secretary Grant Shapps that it might stop manufacturing in the UK. Toyota said it shares the United Kingdom's goal of achieving zero emissions, but declined to comment on the government's mandates because it hasn't seen a draft of the rules being developed by the Department for Transport.
“We continue to see a role for many different technologies in the transition to zero emission based on the principle of mobility for all — including the current hybrid vehicles built in the U.K.,” Toyota said in the statement.
The government will require zero-emission vehicles to account for a growing proportion of new car and van sales beginning in 2024, according to the London-based Times. Manufacturers who fail to meet targets will have to pay penalties or purchase credits from competitors who do. The mandate's specifics are still being worked out.
Toyota pledged in December that it would be ready to sell only zero-emission vehicles in Europe by 2035, with an intermediate goal of having them account for at least half of its sales by the end of the decade. In 2017, Toyota announced a more than £240 million ($315 million) investment in its Burnaston, central England, plant to support the production of Corolla compact cars. It also has an engine plant in Deeside, north Wales.
The United Kingdom intends to prohibit the sale of new cars that run solely on gasoline or diesel after 2030, while allowing hybrid sales until 2035.