Toyota to move assembly of Corollas to new $1 billion plant in Mexico - McClatchy Washington Bureau
Toyota announced Wednesday that it would invest $1 billion in a plant in central Mexico, giving the world’s top automaker a bigger footprint in a nation that’s become a magnet for auto manufacturing . Toyota said the plant in Celaya, in... Production will begin in 2019. The state-of-the-art plant will be among the first in the world to adopt a new production process that trims costs by sharing more components across vehicle sizes and styles. President Enrique Peña Nieto said the announcement gave new momentum to an auto industry that was already the world’s seventh largest and the fourth largest exporter of vehicles. Jim Lentz, chief executive officer of Toyota North America, said the new plant would employ 2,000 people and be the first designed from the ground up with the automaker’s new production and engineering technology, which it calls Toyota New Global... Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst at IHS Automotive, a market research and industry analysis firm, said Toyota had decided to build the compact Corolla in Mexico not only because of cheaper labor costs but also because Mexico had free-trade... Source: www.mcclatchydc.com
