Toyota Rethinks Plan for New Factory in Mexico

Toyota Motor Corp. has abandoned plans to build Corolla sedans at an annual rate of 200,000 units in the $1 billion factory it intended to open in Guanajuato, Mexico, in 2019.

Instead, the company will erect a $700 million plant there and equip it to assemble 100,000 Tacoma pickup trucks per year, according to The Nikkei.

Toyota said in August it would reassign production of the Mexican Corollas to a new $1.6 billion facility to be built in the U.S. in partnership with Mazda Motor Corp. The companies will equally share the factory’s 300,000-unit capacity when the factory opens in 2021.

Reconfiguring the Guanajuato plant to make trucks will enable Toyota to launch new Tacoma production capacity in the region sooner than originally planned, The Nikkei says. The maneuvering also is designed to placate President Donald Trump, who denounced Toyota’s original production plan and has urged all carmakers to shift more production to the U.S.