Mazda Toyota Manufacturing (MTM) plans to invest an additional $830mn in the development of its manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. The company is a joint venture between Japanese automakers Mazda Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.
This investment will be used for new cutting-edge manufacturing technologies at its production lines and provide enhanced training to its workforce. The facility in Huntsville will now be worth $2.311bn, up from the $1.6bn announced in 2018. The plant is likely to provide employment to 4,000 workers.
The construction of this Alabama plant expected to be completed by 2021, with production to resume thereafter.
This facility will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year — 150,000 each of a new Toyota SUB and a future Mazda crossover vehicle — with two lines of production for these two models.
US a preferred destination for future automakers
The construction of this plant at Alabama is another example of foreign-based automakers preferring to build factories in the US. This could be due to a combination of lucrative incentive packages, low-cost labour and a pro-business labour environment.
With rising auto production capacity, the generation of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap is expected to grow in the US.