TME began selling cars in Europe under an official distributor agreement in 1963. TME oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, parts and accessories, and Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly and indirectly employs around 80,000 people in Europe and has invested over €7 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 31 National Marketing and Sales Companies across 56 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants
Sales
Toyota's European sales peaked in 2007 at 1.23 million units. In 2012 the company aims to sell 835,000 units, up from 822,000 units in 2011.
Operations
The TME Head Office is located in Brussels, Belgium, and houses key activities for Toyota and Lexus in Europe. It also acts as the nerve centre for all European operations including the principal areas of manufacturing & engineering and marketing & sales activities.
Supporting facilities
Established in 1987, the Toyota Technical Centre in Zaventem, Belgium, is home to Toyota Motor Europe’s Research & Development, Purchasing and Production Engineering activities. Early in 2006, Toyota inaugurated the expanded technical centre. In 2007 an additional 35,000 m² were added to house the expanded European design and engineering functions. The Toyota Training Centre in Zaventem provides training to service instructors and engineers from all of Toyota’s European distributors. Located in Derbyshire the European Global Production Centre is a hub for the teaching of best practices and training of production staff and supervisors from all over Europe. Toyota's Accessory and Service Centre in Brussels houses after-sales, conversion and accessories activities. Functions include overall coordination of Toyota’s aftersales service operations, investigation of technical matters in the field, car body and paint training, accessories development and planning, as well as vehicle conversion. Created in 2000 in Nice, France, Toyota Europe Design Development concentrates on design concepts for the European market, including advanced design, design competition, production support for European models and design research information. It replaced the Brussels-based Toyota European Office of Creation . Le Rendez- Vous Toyota in Paris is a venue for internal and public events.
In 2008, Toyota began its European sustainable plant activities at two manufacturing companies in France and the United Kingdom. The activities are to emphasize the role of nature in creating production sites that harmonize with their natural surroundings. TMMF and TMUK will ramp up efforts in Europe by serving as the industry benchmark for the sustainable production of vehicles and engines. Each plant will pilot activities to help realise 2010 environmental targets, including a 25% reduction in water use by Toyota’s European manufacturing network. Successful activities will be adopted as standards by Toyota plants globally.
