Place Your Bets: Toyota, Mazda Narrow Factory Site to Two States

Alabama and North Carolina are the final states left in the running for Toyota and Mazda’s $1.6 billion collaborative production venture. Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina are now out of the running but, as you know, there can only be one.

Which state is the smart money on? Your guess is as good as ours, but Toyota does already have an engine manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. It might make sense to keep things centrally located, especially if it NAFTA falls through and Toyota has to shift Corolla production back to Mexico and bring the Tacoma into the states. Of course, if that doesn’t happen, a factory closer to West Virginia and the little 2ZR-FE DOHC might be preferable.

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  • ToolGuy New vehicle buyers are suckers and are easily manipulated.
  • ToolGuy If they really do "thin and light" I will be impressed.
  • Jeff "Honda said it would introduce seven new 0 Series vehicles by 2030, with the first models scheduled to reach the market in 2026." My take on this is the earliest these would be on the market is 2026 If then. I think Honda is going to drag their feet on this and 2030 is a more likely date. Honda is probably going to wait and see what the competition does before they do anything.
  • ToolGuy It is called a vehicle assembly plant. The parts come from all over. This part came from a supplier in Mexico, and they had a spill. There are lots of ways to mess up a part. One would think that people interested in cars would eventually pick up on this sort of thing, but I probably expect too much. Carry on.
  • ToolGuy Ok, the age isn't scary, the mileage isn't scary, but the badge is. But hang on, it has the bigger engine, no turbo, 'new' tires, the headlight doesn't scare me (I was wrong, slightly scary), bulbs and speakers I can do, new window regulator is under a hundred bucks, the transmission issue was scary but seems manageable (if it goes away when warm), AC issue intrigues me, headliner is easy (if what I'm thinking). I'm at $1,800 and will probably regret it but there it is.