Toyota boss says company wont pull out of Deeside even if Britain leaves EU

Toyota Chief executive Akio Toyoda has hinted the company will keep making engines in Deeside even if the UK votes to leave the European Union.

His comments, published today in an interview with the Financial Times, will offer reassurance to the 540 workers at the Deeside engine plant and the thousands of staff at Toyota’s assembly plant in Burnaston near Derby.

Mr Toyoda said his predecessors buried a time capsule at the Burnaston plant 25 years ago, and the company would still be there to open it in the year 2090 “we may face some pretty tough times in the UK market,” he said. “But we want to deepen our roots to deliver ever better cars, so when that capsule is opened after 100 years, all can see we’ve built a truly British company.”

The debate around Britain’s membership of the EU intensified, with David Cameron insisting ministers in his government do not campaign for a “Brexit” until renegotiation talks finish.

The Prime Minister hopes to strike a deal on his demands at a summit in Brussels next month, an in/out referendum could take place as early as this summer.

Mr Toyoda, the great-grandson of Toyota’s founder, dismissal of Brexit concerns follows other car manufacturers within the UK and Deeside’s largest employer Airbus, who have taken a similar stance in terms of the UK – EU pull out.

Airbus Chief executive Fabrice Bregier has said he has “no intention” of withdrawing manufacturing from the UK in the event of Britain voting to leave the EU.

Paul Kahn, president of Airbus Group UK, said last May that Airbus’s 16,000 UK jobs are not under threat, however he did say:

“If, after an exit from the European Union, economic conditions in Britain were less favourable for business than in other parts of Europe, or beyond, would Airbus reconsider future investment in the UK? Yes, absolutely.”

Mr Toyoda believes a strong manufacturing workforce and parts supply chain are key characteristic of the UK, “I understand it was judging on those factors that we choose to put our first European plant in Britain” he said.

Toyota’s Deeside engine plant turns out around 1000 engines a day with one coming off the production line every 57 seconds.

There are 542 employees currently at Deeside, when the factory opened in 1992, there were just 36.