News ID: 2503
Publish Date : 01 May 2018 - 14:08

Toyota Preparing For Next Corolla: $170M Investment, 400 New Jobs

The production lines at the factory in Mississippi will be completely replaced.
Khodrocar - Toyota assembled the very first Corolla at the factory in Blue Springs, Mississippi on November 17, 2011 and celebrated the 500,000-car milestone on February 12, 2015. Fast forward to December 12, 2017, the one millionth sedan rolled off the line and now the company is gearing up for the next generation of the world’s best-selling car.



Likely scheduled to go on sale in 2019 for the 2020 model year, the all-new Corolla hasn’t been revealed yet. Like the hatchback introduced earlier this year, the popular sedan will switch to the TNGA platform, prompting Toyota to entirely replace the current production lines. $170 million are being invested in the plant and 400 new jobs are going to be created over the next 12 months.

Toyota’s decision to invest money into its Mississippi factory is part of a larger investment of $10 billion in U.S. factories over the next five years. More than $1 billion have been spent in the Blue Springs factory since 2007, a factory that was originally supposed to assemble the Highlander SUV before a decision was made to switch to the Corolla.

A total of 1,500 workers are putting together the current-generation Corolla and annual capacity stands at 170,000 units. With more jobs on the way and a revamp of the assembly lines, these numbers are all set to grow in anticipation of the twelfth-generation sedan.



It’s worth mentioning the all-new Corolla will be manufactured not only at the factory in Mississippi, but also at a new assembly plant Toyota is building in association with Mazda in Alabama. It’s set to be operational beginning 2021 following a $1.6-billion investment and will have an annual capacity of 300,000 cars. Up to 4,000 jobs will be created at the plant where Mazda will put together a new crossover to cater the North American market.


Source: Car Advice