Toyota to invest 150 mln euros Adapazari plant

Toyota announced it will expand the production capacity of its plant in Adapazari by 50 pct to 150,000 vehicles a year with an additional investment of 180 million euros.

Investment in the plant will increase by 180 mln eur to a total 700 mln eur, and employment to over 3,000 staff from 2,600 now, in conjunction with the start of production of the new 7-seater Corolla Verso, Toyota said in a statement. The Japanese automaker said it expects to sell 62,000 of the vehicles to be exported to 15 European countries and South Africa from May.

The Verso is a model variation of the top-selling Corolla.

In 2003, Toyota produced 465,946 cars in Europe, where it also has plants in the UK, France and Poland. The Turkish plant produced 70,000 vehicles in 2003, almost all of which were exported, including 34,000 Corolla sedans and 29,000 Corolla wagons. A second shift was added in March and the plant now churns out one vehicle every two minutes, Toyota said.