Toyota Motor (TM) is shifting some manufacturing of its GR Corolla sports car to Britain from Japan, spending 8 billion Japanese yen ($55.5 million) to set up a production line in Derbyshire to produce cars for North America, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The automobile giant intends to use excess capacity in Britain to help it reduce delivery wait times for the car, the report said, citing two sources familiar with the plan, who also mentioned that the move is not part of US President Donald Trump's tariffs on automobile imports.

Toyota will begin producing 10,000 cars annually for the North American market from the middle of next year, with engineers initially sent from Japan to share production technology and other expertise, the report said.

Toyota did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

Shares of the company were up more than 1% in recent Tuesday premarket activity.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)