Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire has secured production of the new Avensis, safeguarding 5,000 jobs.

However, the Japanese manufacturer still warned that work at the plant would continue to be reduced until demand picked back up.

The new Avensis was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show this week and is aimed to compete against sector benchmarks like the Ford Mondeo, Citoren C5 and the new Vauxhall Insignia.

But the big message from Toyota was environmental.

Toyota Motor Europe chief operating officer Thierry Dombreval stressed the car’s low CO2 footprint, starting at 134g/km.

He said: “We have set ourselves a full-year sales goal of 115,000 cars, believing this is the most appropriate target for the current market conditions.”