Toyota has begun production of the 2014 Corolla sedan at its Turkish manufacturing plant in Sakarya Provinve, according to a company press release. Toyota Turkey will export the Corolla to over 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Toyota has invested EUR150 million (USD192.8 million) in the project, taking the company's total investment in its Turkish operations to EUR1.4 billion. The company has also hired 900 employees at the Sakarya facility. Toyota expects to produce around 150,000 units of the Corolla at the plant by 2014. The automaker began assembly operations in Turkey with the manufacture of the seventh-generation Corolla in 1994, and production of the car continued with the eighth- and ninth-generation models until the end of 2006. However, in line with its global production strategy, Toyota halted production of the Corolla between 2007 and mid-2013, before now starting assembly of the 11th-generation model. Turkey has become the only country besides Japan to manufacture the new-generation Corolla.
Significance: In 2010 and then again last year, Toyota was reported to be considering halting exports of its Corolla model from Japan from 2013 onwards. Toyota plans to make its Turkish facility the sole supply hub for the sedan to the European market, with the aim of avoiding the cost of exporting vehicles to the region by producing the vehicle closer, as well as reducing the company's exposure to unfavourable exchange rates owing to a strong yen. Furthermore, the move will also significantly lift the capacity utilisation rate at Toyota's Turkish plant, which slumped during the global economic downturn of 2008/09.
