Nearly 3 in 4 vehicles sold by in Europe are made in Europe at nine manufacturing plants operated by Toyota. In April they passed a significant milestone of 10 million vehicles produced.

The first car made in Europe was a Corolla, which went on to become the world’s best-selling car. It kicked things off at a small CKD (complete knock-down) plant owned and operated with Salvador Caetano in Ovar, Portugal. That plant, which started in 1971, is still operating and currently makes Land Cruiser models for export to South Africa.

Full-scale mass production started in the U.K. in 1992, in not one but two plants: engines came to life in Deeside, Wales, three months before the first Carina E rolled off the assembly line in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

The same Carina E was at Toyota’s European Headquarters in Brussels, where team members of each plant joined HQ staff to celebrate the milestone. This first mass-produced car was on stage alongside Toyota’s newest baby, the Toyota C-HR. That model has zero units on the clock, since it will start production at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey at the end of this year.

Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, commented: “Toyota’s heartbeat is in manufacturing, and our thousands of European team members are very proud to have reached 10 million cars produced in Europe.”

In addition to the growing number of cars being produced locally, Europe has gained increasing autonomy and influence within Toyota globally to design cars tailored to the taste of European customers, especially for the European best-sellers. The recent versions of Yaris, Auris and Avensis were all styled in EDD, Toyota’s design centre in France, and developed in Toyota’s technical centre in Belgium. The Toyota C-HR, with its highly distinctive and edgy design, was also styled with European customers in mind.

“Our European manufacturing track record includes building the first B-segment hybrid car sold in Europe; assembling hybrid engines; and exporting vehicles to North America and even Japan. The future is looking just as solid: over the next 2 years, we expect our overall production in Europe to increase by another 20%,” said van Zyl.