The world’s biggest carmaker, Toyota, has had its fair share of ups and downs over the last 12 months – the most dramatic of the ‘downs’ being the Tsunami of March this year, and the floods in Thailand more recently, which severely affected the company’s manufacturing output in both countries. But a company of such a size and with so many plants doesn’t stay down for long.
Things are looking up, and in the UK the firm announced its Burnaston factory in Derbyshire is to take on an additional 1500 staff. Burnaston will be Toyota’s sole European centre for its next hatchback, in an investment worth over 100 million pounds. By the middle of 2012 the first 500 staff will have been recruited.
In a visit to the factory, David Cameron said it was “a massive vote of confidence for UK manufacturing".
The new hatchback, which has yet to be given a name, will be in the same class and size as Toyota’s current Auris model, the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Focus.
The news is likely to be very welcome to the people of Burnaston, which has seen hundreds of jobs lost from the Toyota factory since the global downturn. 3,100 people currently work in the Burnaston factory, which manufactures the Auris and Avensis models.
Toyota’s size and investment ability has meant it can bounce back from floods and tsunamis in a manner that few other car firms can; sadly, there is no such thing as breakdown cover for such acts of god – but having ones manufacturing sites distributed across the globe probably comes a good second.
Breakdown Cover from 
