From Zárate, Toyota sets historic record for production and exports

While the Government is moving forward with greater commercial openness, including the entry of vehicles from China, Toyota Argentina is competing with its industrial commitment and plans to achieve the highest level of production in its history by 2026. The Zárate plant aims to manufacture 183,400 units this year, surpassing its previous record of 181,000

vehicles registered in 2023.

One of the key factors behind this performance is the improvement in productive efficiency. As explained by industrial director Sebastián Bonica, the reduction in manufacturing time of just one second, from 90 to 89 seconds per unit, allows for an additional 2,000 pickup trucks per year. Today, the plant produces around 806 vehicles a day, operating three shifts from Monday to Friday

.

This performance stands out in a context of reconfiguration of the automotive sector, where different companies are going through processes of adaptation to a more competitive scheme. In the first quarter of the year, production fell by 19%, with some terminals adjusting their level of activity. However, this scenario also encourages companies to improve their productivity and efficiency to integrate more solidly into international markets

.

Within this framework, Toyota managed to recover its volume after the fall recorded in 2024, when it had to implement an adjustment with voluntary withdrawals due to the collapse of exports to key markets such as Chile, Peru and Ecuador. With the recovery in demand in those destinations, production returned to strong growth.

The company rules out that opening up to Chinese imports affects its strategy. Its business model is focused on exports, with 80% of its production destined for external markets, where competitiveness and efficiency are decisive. In this regard, Bonica emphasized that competition is global, both with other subsidiaries of Toyota itself and with manufacturers of Asian

origin.

In the future, the automaker is already working on the next generation of the Hilux, scheduled for 2027. Although there are no official investment figures, they confirmed that adaptations are already being made to the plant and training more than 2,000 employees to face the new production processes

.