Toyota might look at nearby site

Memphis Regional megasite considered one of Tennessee’s leading industrial spots

States will bid frantically to lure Toyota Motor Corp.’s new car plant, a frenzy that could push incentive packages far over $1 billion for the proposed 4,000-employee factory.

Real estate experts Friday said the site selection process for the country’s first new car plant in years will likely lead to the Southeast.

Site selection consultants say one of Tennessee’s leading industrial sites is the Memphis Regional Megasite, 4,100 acres of vacant farm land on Interstate 40 near Stanton.

State officials purchased the land a decade ago to attract a Toyota car plant and it remains unused today. Toyota decided to put its Corolla assembly line west of Tupelo at Blue Springs, Miss.

Toyota's new plant also would make Corollas and would not displace the vehicle from Blue Springs.

Although the severe shortage of skilled workers throughout the United States has been part of the national conversation for years, experts say Toyota is not likely to come to the same conclusion that led Honda Motor Co. into the industrial north.

Looking for a site to build a new Civic car assembly plant, Honda located outside Indianapolis in 2006 even though Indiana had been a bastion for the United Auto Workers since the 1930s.

Economic development experts said the scarcity of skilled trade workers in the Southeast, home to 15 car assembly plants and Boeing’s massive South Carolina facility, steered Honda north. But the shortage may not influence Toyota.

Over the last decade, states have