Toyota to halt production at UK factory day after Brexit
Toyota is set to pause its production in the UK the day after Brexit in case there is any disruption to the delivery of parts.
The car maker has said its work at the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire will stop on Friday 1 November and resume the following week.
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The car manufacturing sector has been one of the biggest critics of the damage a no-deal Brexit could do.
As one of the UK’s biggest exporters, they have highlighted concerns that production would be hit by tariffs, border delays and red tape.
A Toyota spokesman said: “We will have a production pause on the first day of Brexit, which is Friday 1st, and… then we will restart production on the Monday and the Tuesday.
“We don’t know what the actual situation will be like. We’ve already pulled forward a couple of days of extra inventory which we will then use on the Monday and Tuesday and we will have to see what the situation is after that.”
Toyota built over eight per cent of the UK’s 1.5m cars in 2018 at its site in Derbyshire and earlier this year began production of the new Corolla there.
The Japanese firm said that no volume would be lost due to the pause in production.
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However, when a string of firms halted assembly lines to coincide with the UK’s planned departure date from the EU in March, car production plummeted.
Only 70.971 vehicles were produced in April, down 44.5 per cent from the year before, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.