Toyota, Mazda to Choose Site for U.S. Plant by Early 2018

Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. expect to select a final location early next year for the $1.6 billion factory they plan to open in the southern U.S.

Previous reports say the companies will choose between sites in Alabama and North Carolina.

The new complex is likely to begin production in 2021 with annual capacity to make 300,000 vehicles. The facility reportedly will build Corolla small sedans for Toyota and a new crossover vehicle for Mazda.

The factory will be Mazda’s first in the U.S. For Toyota, the complex is part of a reshuffling of production assignments in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The shuffle was prompted in large part by President Donald Trump’s threat to impose hefty import quotas on Corollas that Toyota had planned to make in a new factory being built in Mexico.

Toyota says it will instead downsize the Mexico facility and use it to make Tacoma midsize pickup trucks. The company also will shift Corolla production from Canada to the U.S., thereby enabling it to make more crossover vehicles at its Canadian facility.