Toyota to Launch SUV Production in Turkey This Year

Toyota Motor Corp. confirms it will begin producing its stylish C-HR small SUV/crossover in Turkey in late 2016. The company plans to unveil the production-ready vehicle at the Geneva auto show in March.

The Nikkei reported several details about the Turkish project more than a year ago.

Toyota is spending €350 million ($397 million) to expand its factory in Adapazari to build as many as 180,000 C-HRs per year. The project will raise Toyota’s annual capacity in the country to 280,000 units by 2017 from about 150,000 units currently. The plant currently makes the Corolla sedan and Verso minivan.

Toyota predicts roughly half the C-HRs it sells will be equipped with hybrid powertrains supplied from the company's engine plant in England. The Nikkei says the new crossover will be shipped to more than 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The C-HR will ride on the Toyota New Global Architecture. The platform also carries the redesigned Prius hybrid and Corolla sedan. Toyota has estimated the platform eventually will reduce its product development costs 20% and lead to a 40% drop in the cost of building new assembly plants.