Toyota Begins Production of Hybrid Electric Transaxles in Poland

Toyota has announced that it has begun production of hybrid electric transaxles at the company’s factory in Walbrzych, Poland. This would be the first time that the leading automotive company has made this important component of its hybrid electric powertrains in a factory outside Asia.

The transaxle made in Poland will be used in the new Corolla Hybrid that is made Toyota’s factory in Burnaston, UK and also in the C-HR Hybrid, which is made at its plant in Turkey. The production of hybrid electric transaxles denotes the first stage of the company’s introduction of its advanced hybrid technology and its ‘New Global Architecture’ at its factories in Poland.

TMMP (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland) is the first Toyota factory outside Asia and the second factory outside Japan which is considered to be advanced enough to engage in the production of the technologically advanced hybrid transaxles. The function of the advanced hybrid transaxles is to coordinate the synergy between the electric motors of the hybrid system and the combustion engine. With the plant in Poland now making these components, the factory has taken on 600 new jobs and the investment in the Toyota’s Polish facilities have been ramped up to over 1 billion euros.

Commenting on the development, Dr Johan van Zyl, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, said that Toyota had started its journey towards electrification in Europe with the launch of its first hybrid model in Europe in 2000. Currently, hybrids account for almost half of the company’s new vehicle sales and this percentage continues to grow. He went on to add that hybrid technology serves as Toyota’s key differentiator and is part of the company’s ambitious electrification strategy to sell over 5.5 million electrified vehicles globally, including one million zero-emission vehicles, per year by 2030. The continued demand for hybrid vehicles in Europe will spur the expansion of local production of hybrid components.