Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi started building the Toyota Corolla in 2011. And yesterday morning, a red Toyota Corolla LE became the 500,000th car to roll off the Blue Springs Mississippi production line. The Mississippi plant reached the half-million production mark faster than any of the other eight Toyota assembly plants in the U.S..
"This is a proud moment in our history," said Fred Volf, Toyota Mississippi vice president of manufacturing. "It's a big milestone for this plant and achievement, but we really couldn't have done it by ourselves. Volf says it took a team effort to reach the mark including Mississippi workers as well as suppliers and the support of community leaders throughout the state and the region.
Since building the 2 million square foot plant, Toyota has invested over $880 million. Working overtime and some Saturdays, over 2,000 workers at the plant were able to build more than 180,000 Corollas in 2014. Toyota lists the official capacity of the plant at only 170,000 vehicles. Volf says the plant can not only exceed the current capacity, but even build more if necessary. "With the flexibility of our plant, under this building we can officially achieve about 200,000 if demand grows strong enough. There is room to grow internally".
As Corolla is the #1 selling vehicle of all time, that scenario could become a real possibility. Toyota sold 339,000 Corolla's last year in the U.S. alone. That's the most since 2008. Toyota also sells the Corolla or a version of it in every market they participate in throughout the world.
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