Toyota is announcing new investments to help advance its manufacturing capabilities worldwide in support of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), a comprehensive approach to achieving sustainable growth by making ever-better vehicles more efficiently.
In North America, Toyota will invest approximately US $1 billion in a new manufacturing plant in the Central Mexico state of Guanajuato to produce the Corolla. As Toyota’s 15th plant in North America, it will be the first engineered from the ground up with TNGA technology and will create an estimated 2,000 new jobs. When the plant opens in 2019, it will have the capacity to produce 200,000 units each year.
Once Corolla production moves to the new plant from its current home in Cambridge, Ont., the Cambridge North Plant will be transformed to produce mid-sized, higher-value vehicles, marking Toyota's first major reinvestment in the plant since 1997. Meanwhile, both Cambridge plants and Toyota's facility in Woodstock, Ont., will undergo major TNGA modifications, maintaining the facilities' importance as a strategic manufacturing hub.
"We are thrilled to invest further in North America so we can better meet the needs of our customers for decades to come," said Jim Lentz, chief executive officer of Toyota North America. "This strategic re-thinking of how and where we build our products will create new opportunities for our company, our business partners and our team members across the region."
Both the new Guanajuato facility and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc. (TMMMS) will build the Corolla, consolidating Toyota's compact vehicle production to the southern U.S. and Mexico.
Toyota also announced today it will expand its joint venture, Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (GTMC), in China by restructuring two existing production lines at GTMC and adding a third line at a new adjacent facility. Construction is expected to add capacity of approximately 100,000 units annually.
"This investment represents our long-held principles of continuous improvement and challenging ourselves to always do better," said Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation. "An increase in production does not mean an undisciplined pursuit of more. Toyota’s expansion must be driven by providing ever-better-cars and our talented people. These investments will be an important test of Toyota's resolve and a measure of tangible improvement."
For more on the Guanajuato plant and Canadian investments, click here: http://www.toyotanewsroom.com
For more on TMC's global announcement, click herec: http://www.toyota-global.com/news
