First British GR Corollas already in the US
Toyota has decided to move part of the production of the GR Corolla model from Japan to the UK, and this process has already begun. Exactly one year after officially confirming that the hot hatchback would also be assembled in the UK, the first cars for the American market are already arriving at dealerships. Some buyers may not even know that their car was assembled in Britain.
According to Road&Track, the first GR Corollas assembled in the UK have already started arriving at dealerships in the US. This happened faster than Toyota initially planned when it announced the expansion of production beyond Japan. Previously, all GR Corollas were assembled at the Motomachi plant in Japan.
Why production was moved
The same plant produced several models aimed at enthusiasts. However, high demand and limited production capacity forced Toyota to seek an alternative. The solution was the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, England, which already produces the standard Corolla for Europe. This is ironic, as the workers assembling these cars cannot buy them where they live.
Toyota states that this move is aimed at improving supply and reducing delivery time for North American customers. The Burnaston plant has the capacity to produce about 10,000 GR Corollas per year. This could reduce the long waiting lists that have existed since the model’s launch in 2022. Importantly, Toyota builds the car on a separate line, not alongside the regular Corollas.
Differences in production
This is important because the two models are almost identical in name only. For example, Toyota states that the assembly tolerances for a regular Corolla are about 0.75 degrees. For the GR Corolla, the target is 0.25 degrees, and most cars are claimed to leave the line with precision up to 0.05 degrees. Workers use special devices to adjust the suspension geometry before installation, and the wheel nuts are checked manually before the car leaves the line.
The GR line itself is also radically different from Toyota’s usual high-volume approach. While a regular Corolla passes through assembly stations in 142 seconds, each GR Corolla spends approximately 21 minutes at each of its 20 stations. According to the automaker, there should be no noticeable differences between cars assembled in the UK and Japan. The only way to tell them apart is by the VIN code, which starts with the letter S instead of J.
Moving GR Corolla production to the UK is a strategic step by Toyota to meet the high demand for this model in North America. Although the change in location may raise some doubts among fans, the company assures that assembly quality will remain at the same level thanks to specialized equipment and meticulous control. Increasing production capacity should help reduce waiting times for buyers, which is a positive development for the market. At the same time, this move highlights the global nature of modern automotive manufacturing, where a model can be developed in one country and produced in another, while maintaining high quality standards.