TOKYO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp , the world's second-largest auto maker, said on Tuesday it would spend 180 million euros ($224 million) to boost annual output capacity at its plant in Turkey by 50 percent to 150,000 units by March.
With the new capacity, the Adapazari plant will produce the new seven-seater Corolla Verso multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), to be exported to 15 European countries and South Africa from May. Toyota expects to sell 62,000 of the cars in Europe this year.
Fresh models designed for European tastes and improved dealer networks have helped boost Japanese and Korean car sales in Europe in recent years at the expense of local players.
Despite a contraction in the overall market, Toyota, Japan's top auto maker, sold a record number of cars in Europe for the seventh straight year in 2003. Its sales grew by 10 percent from 2002 to 834,661, for a market share of 4.7 percent.
The expansion at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey (TMMT) will add 400 jobs and follows similar moves at Toyota's factories in Britain and France, where it has said it would introduce a third shift from the second quarter of this year.
Toyota is also building a plant with France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen in the Czech Republic to make 100,000 small cars annually from 2005.
Shares in Toyota fell 0.28 percent to 3,610 yen in morning trade in Tokyo, compared with a slight rise in the broader market. ($1=.8022 euro)