Toyota has announced a multi-year plan to realign its manufacturing operations in North America in support of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), a comprehensive approach to achieving sustainable growth by making better vehicles more efficiently.
As part of this strategy, Toyota says it will invest approximately $1 billion to construct its newest North American manufacturing facility in the state of Guanajuato in Central Mexico to produce the Corolla. This state-of-the-art plant will feature the latest TNGA production engineering innovations, employ approximately 2,000 team members and have the capacity to produce 200,000 units annually.
Once Corolla production begins in Mexico in 2019, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (TMMC) will transform its Cambridge, Ontario, North Plant to switch from producing Corollas to mid-sized, higher-value vehicles, marking Toyota’s first major reinvestment in the plant since it opened in 1997. Toyota also plans to make significant new investments over several years in TMMC’s assembly plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario, to implement TNGA modifications, maintaining the facilities’ importance as a strategic manufacturing hub.
Toyota’s efforts under the new global architecture to group production by common vehicle platforms in each North American plant are intended to improve efficiency and enhance flexibility, the automaker said.
Toyota’s vehicle assembly facility in Guanajuato will begin producing the Corolla with Model Year 2020. The new plant will be Toyota’s 15th in North America, its first since 2011 and its largest investment in Mexico to date.
The plant will be the first in the world designed from the ground up with TNGA production engineering technologies and will leverage the existing supply base and transportation infrastructure in the region. Toyota will also establish a plant preparation office in the state of Queretaro.