Toyota Motor Corp plans to build its eighth assembly plant in North America, the Wall Street Journal reports on its website.
Toyota Motor Corp plans to build its eighth assembly plant in North America and will announce the location, possibly in the southern United States, as early as this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website.
The move is expected to help Japan's biggest automaker wrest even more of the US market from the Big Three domestic carmakers – General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and DaimlerChrysler AG of Germany's Chrysler division – in the next several years, the daily reported.
“It would also further strengthen Toyota's hand politically should a new backlash against foreign brands arise out of the increasing troubles of the domestic automakers and their suppliers,” it said.
In 2006, Toyota overtook Daimler as the third largest carmaker by new car sales in the US market. But the Japanese automaker's ratio of local production in North America dropped below 60 per cent for the first time in 10 years.
Toyota has narrowed its site search to three to five locations, including Chattanooga in Tennessee and Marion in Arkansas, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The new plant would have an annual manufacturing capacity of 200,000 vehicles and would start production of Highlander sport utility vehicles and other cars in 2009, the newspaper said.
