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Toyota and Mazda Are Said to Pick Alabama for $1.6 Billion Plant
Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor are expected to announce Wednesday that they have chosen a location in northern Alabama, near Huntsville, for the $1.6 billion car plant the Japanese automakers are planning to build together, according to a person familiar with the companies’ plans.
A Toyota spokeswoman, Amanda Roark, declined to comment.
Toyota already operates four auto assembly plants in the United States, in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Texas. It also has two in Ontario and a small truck plant in Mexico. Mazda has a single North American plant in Salamanca, Mexico.
The location of the plant was first reported by Reuters.
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The new Alabama plant, when completed, is expected to assemble a new version of the Toyota Corolla compact car. Mazda has not yet said which automobile the joint plant will produce. The factory, which will have the capacity to build as many as 300,000 cars a year, is part of an initiative by Toyota to invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years.
When the companies revealed in August that they would cooperate on a new plant in the United States, the news was hailed by President Donald Trump, who has called on auto manufacturers to produce more vehicles here in the hope of creating jobs. The president also criticized Ford Motor, General Motors and others for building or expanding factories in Mexico.
Toyota and Mazda are moving forward with the plant at a time when new-vehicle sales in the United States have started to decline. Total sales fell 1.8 percent in 2017, to 17.2 million, ending a seven-year run of growth. Analysts forecast further declines in 2018 and 2019.
Alabama is already the home of a Daimler plant that makes Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and a second factory owned by Honda.
The New York Times
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