The Toyota-Mazda manufacturing joint venture said it would begin construction next month of its 3.3 million-square-foot, $1.6 billion assembly plant in Alabama, with hopes of launching production in 2021 with an eye toward market flexibility.
According to Toyota, the project will employ up to 4,000 people in Huntsville, Ala., and produce about 300,000 vehicles a year -- 150,000 units of Mazda's new crossover model that will be introduced to the North American market and 150,000 units of the 2020 Toyota Corolla.
The ceremonial groundbreaking event on Friday came one day after Toyota debuted its redesigned Corolla sedan at Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. The 12th-generation Corolla is based on the Toyota New Global Architecture. The latest Corolla sedan, Toyota says, draws from the same DNA as the new Corolla hatchback revealed this year. The two body styles also will share powertrains.
With U.S. sedan sales expected to fall in 2018 for the fifth straight year, the alliance's statement announcing the groundbreaking emphasized the plant's envisioned flexibility.
"The alliance will assure competitiveness in manufacturing, allowing both automakers to respond quickly to market changes and helping to ensure sustainable growth toward the future of mobility," the statement said.