Toyota could halt production at UK plant

Nearly 90% of cars built there are shipped to EU markets

Toyota Motor Corp. anticipates halting production at its Midlands UK factory in the event Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, plant managing director Marvin Cooke told the BBC. The Japanese company operates the Burnaston car plant that produced 150,000 vehicles last year, with about 90 per cent of the units shipped to the EU, while components come the other way.

The factory has 2,500 employees, the company said on its website.

“My view is that if Britain crashes out of the EU at the end of March, we will see production stops in our factory,” Cooke, head of the plant that makes the Auris and Avensis cars, said. “It could be hours, days, weeks — even months.”

UK businesses are getting increasingly skittish about the prospects a no-deal Brexit, with less than 200 days until the country is set to leave. Manufacturers from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy to BMW AG have warned about production disruptions if the UK leaves without an agreement. The British Chambers of Commerce warned on Friday that most businesses have yet to carry out a risk assessment on the impact of Brexit.