Toyota has revealed that it has chosen its plant in Deeside in north Wales, UK, to produce next-generation hybrid engines for a future crossover model.
The 1.8-liter engines will manufactured in the UK and shipped to Turkey for installation in a new model that will be based on the recent C-HR concept.
Toyota Motor Europe will spend US$10.2m on upgrading the factory to produce the high-tech unit.
Dr Johan van Zyl, Toyota Motor Europe president and CEO, said, “The crossover market has been booming and will continue to grow in Europe and elsewhere. We are entering the C-segment crossover market with a fantastic new product with a hybrid powertrain from the start. It will provide our European operations with further perspectives for sustainable growth.”
Toyota’s 1.8-liter 2ZR-FXE Atkinson cycle engine was recently overhauled for the new Prius model, and now achieves an impressive thermal efficiency of 40%. Friction and heating performance were the two main areas of focus for Toyota engineers – Toyota claims a 20% reduction in mechanical losses in the transaxle and electric motor over the previous version of the unit, for instance.
March 4, 2016