Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., seriously concerned to increase manufacturing capacity in North America to ward off any potential trade concerns, is likely to choose Tupelo, Miss., as the site for the eighth North American assembly plant. However, it has been learnt that the proposal is still pending in the company’s board for approval.
Toyota, which is widely expected to surpass GM as the world’s biggest automaker as early as this year, has increased its capital spending by 1.4 percent to a record 1.55 trillion yen from a year ago to expand production in the current business year.
According to reports, the new plant would likely produce the next-generation Toyota Highlander car-SUV crossover at the rate of 150,000 vehicles a year. Production is expected to begin in 2010. The plant’s manufacturing capacity and the timing for the start of production in clearly reflecting the growing concern among Toyota’s top management.
The location in northeastern Mississippi would be logical for Toyota, which has already an engine factory in Huntsville, around 125 miles away. The value of the project has been estimated around $830 million.
