BLUE SPRINGS, Mississippi (June 17, 2010) – Toyota is resuming construction of its Mississippi plant, which will soon hire 2,000 team members and build the Corolla compact sedan beginning in the fall of 2011.

           

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour plans to visit Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi (TMMMS) today to meet with Northeast Mississippi community leaders and Toyota officials.

           

This decision to begin production with Corolla enables TMMMS to open as quickly as possible.  Also, by beginning production with Corolla, nearly all Corolla for this market will be built in North America.  Some of the Corolla for North America have been built in Japan since April.  

 

“Toyota appreciates the patience of Gov. Barbour and all Mississippians, but we first needed to fully utilize our existing facilities as the economy slowed.  Now it’s time to fulfill Toyota’s promise in Mississippi,” said Yoshimi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America.  “Toyota remains committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in North America.”

           

The TMMMS building is essentially complete.  Most of the remaining work involves the installation of equipment.   The administration office is already occupied by about 60 team members.  Details about the hiring process will be divulged later this summer. 

 

Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and currently operates 13 manufacturing plants. There are more than 1,800 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.05 million vehicles in 2009. Toyota directly employs more than 35,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $23 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota’s annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $25 billion. Toyota currently produces 12 vehicles in North America, including the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, RAV4, Sienna, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza and the Lexus RX 350. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com or www.toyotanewsroom.com.

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