Alabama to Get Toyota-Mazda Plant

Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. will announce later today that they have chosen a site near Huntsville, Ala., to build their $1.6 billion assembly plant, sources tell Reuters.

In August the companies announced plans to open a jointly owned factory in the U.S. by 2021. The deal is part of a technology partnership in which Toyota acquired 5% of Mazda, and Mazda bought 0.25% of Tooyota.

The U.S. facility will have annual capacity to make 300,000 vehicles, with initial output split equally between Toyota Corolla sedans and a new Mazda SUV/crossover model. Bloomberg News reported in October that the companies sought at least $1 billion in tax breaks and other incentives.

The factory, which will employ about 4,000 people, is a major political victory for President Donald Trump. He campaigned on a promise to bring more jobs to the U.S.

Trump also threatened to impose sanctions on Toyota if the company went through with a plan to supply Corollas from a $1 billion factory it planned to erect in Guanajuato, Mexico. Toyota scrapped that plan in October. Now it is building a $700 million facility in Guanajuato with capacity to make 100,000 Tacoma pickup trucks per year.​