Toyota-Mazda Assembly Plant Opening Delayed

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Mazda Toyota Manufacturing will have to wait a while before it manufactures any automobiles. The jointly operated facility in Huntsville, Alabama won’t open next spring as planned. It’s delayed on account of the coronavirus outbreak.

Designed to produce collaborative crossovers, the facility came to be after state and local governments floated $800 million in incentives to temp the automakers. Apparently good enough, the $1.6-billion project launched under the assumption that the first of two production lines would be operational by April of 2021. That date has been pushed back indefinitely as Toyota and Mazda assess the situation.

“On April 9, we informed state and local government officials in Alabama, along with our key suppliers how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting our ability to maintain critical equipment delivery schedules, creating labor shortages, and slowing construction. As a result, we will delay the start of production of the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant to a time period later in 2021. We are eager to keep the project moving forward and appreciate the ongoing support of all key stakeholders,” Toni Eberhart, spokesperson for the project, explained.

“As a result, we will delay the start of production of the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant to a time period later in 2021. We are eager to keep the project moving forward and appreciate the ongoing support of all key stakeholders.”

The facility is expected to provide jobs for 4,000 Alabamians, with nearby suppliers delivering an additional 1,500 (or more) positions for the area. Unfortunately, the pandemic is likely to delay their completion, as well. Local outlets reported the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, U.S.A. (MTMUS) campus will probably stall construction on supportive facilities using the site.

On the upshot, COVID-19 has lessened traffic immensely and Limestone County plans to widen I-565. The highway had already earned a reputation for its frequent traffic jams. In order to better facilitate commerce stemming from MTMUS and keep locals moving on their daily commutes, the state rejiggered the formerly contentious program to ensure it came in under budget. With nobody going anywhere, now seems like the ideal time to engage in some roadwork.

[Image: Toyota]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Apr 15, 2020

    I think they spent more than that as there were improvements done at the Port of Mobile and the connecting infrastructure to facilitate movement of the product. Fortunately I suppose I am in the city limits of Huntsville in Madison County, so I guess I am only on the hook for the state level improvements and the new AA ballpark. Can't have all of those folks in Madison driving over to the East side to the perfectly good ballpark that was already there and could have been renovated. They might see a poor person.

    • See 4 previous
    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Apr 16, 2020

      @Daniel J Wasn't Joe Davis Stadium one of the largest in AA? I think it was well over 10,000 capacity (I could look it up, but I'm lazy). the new ballpark has a capacity of 7,000, considerably smaller, but it's a more modern design with amenities not found in decades-old ballparks like JDS. The new ballpark cost something like $48 million, so if JDS is structurally sound, removing seating and adding amenities might have been cheaper. Having 7k seats instead of 10k-plus would have made less impact on traffic too. The key is the condition of JDS, which is pretty old for a minor league ballpark, with a layout that might not have been cheaply altered. Key point: this is America, where it's out with the old and in with the new, even if the old is still usable. We've lost a lot of fine buildings to that attitude.

  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Apr 16, 2020

    $0.8 billion tax relief for the Toyota/Mazda venture: OK $1.0 billion tax relief offered to Tesla by Joplin, MO: "a gift for building rich-guy trucks!"

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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