Toyota on Monday announced its second generation Toyota C-HR will be manufactured at the Japanese automaker's plant in Türkiye, marking it the first plug-in hybrid passenger car to be produced in the country.
Available in hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions, the new Toyota C-HR will be produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Türkiye (TMMT) in the northwestern province of Sakarya, the company said.
In addition, TMMT will be Toyota's first European plant to start producing plug-in hybrid vehicles and the first to be equipped with a battery production line, it noted.
The carmaker said the 100% electrified powertrain line-up of the new Toyota C-HR "reflects Toyota's commitment to offer appropriate carbon reduction opportunities to the largest and most competitive market segment in Europe."
"In addition to the hybrid version, the new plug-in hybrid Toyota C-HR with locally assembled batteries will further expand Toyota's multi-technology offer toward its target of 100% CO2 reduction in its vehicle line-up in Europe by 2035," the statement read.
317M euros investment
Alongside the vehicle production line, TMMT will build a new plug-in battery assembly line with a capacity of 75,000 units per year within its facility, it said. Plug-in hybrid battery assembly will start in December 2023, creating around 60 new skilled jobs.
Toyota said the investment for the project will be around 317 million euros ($345.72 million), bringing the overall cumulative investment in TMMT to around 2.3 billion euros.
In the scope of the new model investment, it said the TMMT will improve and enhance its production line, whilst laying down the framework to meet the future requirements of production diversity and flexibility.
Toyota says it is committed to achieving full carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040, and is targeting carbon neutrality in all its manufacturing facilities by 2030. TMMT says it is progressing toward this goal by introducing technologies that minimize energy consumption while at the same time, switching to renewable energy within the Sakarya plant.
These measures include the introduction of new paint shop technologies which minimize CO2 emissions and the use of solar energy which aims to make the plant self-sufficient in its energy use.
'Globally important' plant
"In this project, which reveals TMMT's high-quality vehicle production experience and advanced engineering ability, we will implement our responsibilities with great dedication. This represents an exciting step forward for TMMT's future as it continues to produce popular attractive and high quality models," said Erdoğan Şahin, president and CEO at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Türkiye.
"This project once again confirms that our production facility in Sakarya is a globally important place for Toyota," Şahin noted.
"We are proud to announce that TMMT will produce the second-generation Toyota C-HR including the first plug-in hybrid vehicle in Europe. The outstanding performance and dedication which our TMMT employees deliver will make this new model a great success, just like its predecessor," said Marvin Cooke, executive vice president in charge of manufacturing at Toyota Motor Europe.
"It also marks another important milestone with the start of our first battery assembly line in Europe, which is an important step in our European electrification plan," Cooke said.