Toyota starts production of new 2.0L engine for Corolla hybrid at Poland plant

As Toyota Motor Europe (TME)’s hybrid vehicle sales continue to rise as a percentage of total sales in the European region, reaching 52% in the first half of 2019, the company continues to localise production of hybrid powertrain components in Europe.

An event at the TMMP plant in Jelcz-Laskowice, Poland, marked the start of production of the new 2.0L TNGA petrol engine that will equip hybrid models of the Toyota Corolla as well as the conventional RAV4 model.

In the presence of the Deputy Minister of Energy, Krzysztof Kubów, the Deputy Minister of Investment & Development, Grzegorza Puda, and the President of Toyota Motor Europe, Dr. Johan van Zyl, the new line for the production of the 2.0L TNGA engine was officially inaugurated. Representing an investment of around €90 million ($99 million), the new production lines are built in line with Toyota's New Global Architecture and feature advanced automated production, increased performance and improved ergonomics for the production members.

“Today marks the start of production of the 2.0L TNGA engine that we announced three years ago. In addition to the start of production of the 1.8 e-CVT at our Walbrzych plant end 2018 and the recent announcement of a new e-CVT planned for 2021, today's milestone in Jelcz-Laskowice represents yet another major step towards the production of electrification powertrain components in Poland. Both plants play a major role as a conventional and hybrid powertrain production centre for Toyota in Europe and are key to our European business strategy. Over the years Toyota has invested a total amount of over €1 billion ($1.10 billion), creating 2700 jobs in Poland,” said Johan van Zyl, President of Toyota Motor Europe.

“We are transforming and preparing our plants to meet evolving market trends that show a growing uptake of low-emission, hybrid electric powertrains. Our production will include electric motors for Toyota cars produced and sold in Europe. We continue to build a European centre of low-emission hybrid electric technology, steadily increasing its share in the electrified automotive industry,” said Eiji Takeichi, President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland.

A modern, two-litre, four-cylinder TNGA engine can interact with the e-CVT in a hybrid powertrain system or operate independently in a conventional powertrain. This new Toyota Dynamic Force Engine running in the Atkinson cycle has an increased capacity, high thermal efficiency and operation at lower temperatures. As a result, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) achieves exceptionally good NOx levels, which are 91.6% lower than the Euro 6 limit for an equivalent petrol car.