Photo: Groupe PSA and Toyota
Dating back to 2001, the partnership to build city cars has been put on the back burner by Toyota and Groupe PSA. In the following years, the European alliance will see Groupe PSA supply Toyota with a compact van while the Japanese automaker will take financial ownership of the joint-venture operations in the Czech Republic.
The C-Van will be manufactured by the French automaker at the group’s Vigo plant in Spain, and the first example to wear the Toyota logo will roll off the assembly line at the end of 2019. The collaboration goes deeper than that as far as commercial vehicles are concerned, dating back to 2012 with the introduction of the Proace at the Groupe PSA plant in Hordain, France.
Starting from January 2021, the Japanese automaker will take control of Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile Czech s.r.o. in Kolin, where the Aygo, C1, and 108 are manufactured. From when the deal was signed in 2001, both parties laid down a clause that allowed either of them to reconsider the shareholding of the plant.
Toyota hasn’t announced what it plans to manufacture in the Czech Republic, but did mention that a larger workforce is needed to see the plan through. “Our commitment to the Kolin plant demonstrates Toyota’s philosophy of producing cars where we sell them and our long-term manufacturing presence in Europe,” said executive vide-president Didier Leroy.
Carlos Tavares, who’s the chairman of Groupe PSA, added that the future yields “a new chapter of our successful and mutually beneficial partnership, based on our trusting relationship for the best advantage of our clients and our companies.” In other words, consumer demand might be changing but the alliance remains as strong as ever.
Opened in 1958, the Vigo plant operated by Groupe PSA in Spain produced 434,000 vehicles in 2017. Models manufactured there include the Peugeot Partner, Rifter, Citroen Berlingo, Opel and Vauxhall Combo, Citroen C4 Spacetourer, Citroen C-Elysée, and Peugeot 301.
As for the Hordain plant in France, Groupe PSA built 135,000 vehicles there in 2017 for three brands: the Peugeot Expert and Traveller, Citroen Jumpy and Spacetourer, as well as the Toyota Proace. The TPCA Kolin in the Czech Republic is the youngest of these factories, opened in 2005. No less than 199,000 Aygo, C1, and 108 models have been built there last year.
Starting from January 2021, the Japanese automaker will take control of Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile Czech s.r.o. in Kolin, where the Aygo, C1, and 108 are manufactured. From when the deal was signed in 2001, both parties laid down a clause that allowed either of them to reconsider the shareholding of the plant.
Toyota hasn’t announced what it plans to manufacture in the Czech Republic, but did mention that a larger workforce is needed to see the plan through. “Our commitment to the Kolin plant demonstrates Toyota’s philosophy of producing cars where we sell them and our long-term manufacturing presence in Europe,” said executive vide-president Didier Leroy.
Carlos Tavares, who’s the chairman of Groupe PSA, added that the future yields “a new chapter of our successful and mutually beneficial partnership, based on our trusting relationship for the best advantage of our clients and our companies.” In other words, consumer demand might be changing but the alliance remains as strong as ever.
Opened in 1958, the Vigo plant operated by Groupe PSA in Spain produced 434,000 vehicles in 2017. Models manufactured there include the Peugeot Partner, Rifter, Citroen Berlingo, Opel and Vauxhall Combo, Citroen C4 Spacetourer, Citroen C-Elysée, and Peugeot 301.
As for the Hordain plant in France, Groupe PSA built 135,000 vehicles there in 2017 for three brands: the Peugeot Expert and Traveller, Citroen Jumpy and Spacetourer, as well as the Toyota Proace. The TPCA Kolin in the Czech Republic is the youngest of these factories, opened in 2005. No less than 199,000 Aygo, C1, and 108 models have been built there last year.
Google News