Toyota, Mazda announce RM6.4 billion Alabama plant
MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Toyota Motor Corp and Mazda Motor Corp announced on Wednesday they will build a US$ 1.6 billion ( RM6.4 billion) joint assembly plant in Alabama that will employ up to 4,000 workers.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Mazda President and Chief Executive Officer Masamichi Kogai joined Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in Montgomery at an event to announce the decision.
“Welcome to sweet home Alabama,” Ivey said to the two executives, after saying that the anticipated 4,000 workers at the plant to be built in Huntsville would earn an average of US$ 50,000 ( RM200,000) a year.
The plant will produce 300,000 vehicles a year and should open on a 2,500- acre former cotton field in 2021, about 14 miles from Toyota’s engine plant in Huntsville.
Toyota plans to build Corolla cars at the plant, while Mazda will build crossover SUVs.
“Together, I am confident we will create yet another ‘ Built in America’ success story,” Toyoda said.
Alabama will provide tax incentives. Officials said the state tax incentives were worth US$ 370 million, but they did not disclose how much the local incentives were worth.
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said the plant will “provide jobs for decades to come for Huntsville and Alabama. It vaults Alabama to the top as an industry leader in producing the next generation of cars that will power our nation.”
Among US states, Alabama is already the fifth largest producer of cars and light trucks. The state has more than 150 major auto suppliers and 57,000 automotive manufacturing jobs.
Two decades ago, Alabama spent an estimated US$ 250 million to woo Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz to put an auto plant in Tuscaloosa, sparking the birth of auto production in the state.
In September, Daimler said it would invest US$ 1 billion to expand its Alabama MercedesBenz plant to start building electric sport-utility vehicles there from about 2020.—