Toyota is reportedly planning a massive, $1-billion investment in Mexico

businessinsider.com
Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Alexandra Alper, Reuters
Apr. 14, 2015, 6:59 AM


Toyota Motor Corp will spend $1 billion to build a car factory in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, with plans to announce the investment on Wednesday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The 200,000-cars-a-year factory will create about 2,400 direct jobs, one of the people told Reuters, declining to be identified because the plan is not yet public.

Reuters reported earlier that the factory – Toyota's first to build passenger cars in Mexico - would produce the Corolla compact car from the summer of 2019, ending a self-imposed three-year freeze on new investments.

President Enrique Pena Nieto will attend the announcement to be held in Mexico on Wednesday, the people said.

A Toyota spokeswoman in Tokyo said nothing had been decided.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-toyota-to-invest-1-billion-for-new-mexico-plant-create-2400-jobs-source-2015-4#ixzz3XId6i35H

Toyota to build new Plant in Guanajuato, Mexico

theyucatantimes.com

Toyota Motor is planning new Chinese and Mexican factories, ending a freeze on plant construction to better compete against Volkswagen and other global rivals.

The Japanese automaker will make an announcement later this month.

It expects to spend some 150 billion yen ($1.25 billion) on the new facilities, opening them in 2018 in China and 2019 in Mexico. Together, they will boost Toyota’s annual production capacity by up to 300,000 vehicles.

These will mark the first new Toyota factories since a Thai facility that opened in 2013, when the company halted plant construction to focus on honing profitability.

The Chinese plant will be built in the city of Guangzhou, where Toyota has a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group, and make the Yaris subcompact. It will churn out up to 100,000 cars a year. Eyeing the growing demand for autos among the middle class in China, Toyota aims to raise its market share there from 4% by offering more small cars.

Toyota will make the Yaris subcompact at the new Chinese plant (Photo: nikkei)

In Mexico, Toyota’s factory in the state of Guanajuato will have a maximum output capacity of 200,000 cars a year. The plant will operate around the clock, building a new version of the Corolla sedan for North America. A Canadian factory that now builds Corollas will instead make bigger vehicles. Toyota sees low Mexican production costs helping it achieve more competitive pricing in the U.S., where it holds a 14% market share.

The new factories will require 40% smaller initial investments compared with 2008 outlays. Toyota has cut setup costs by reducing assembly line steps and using stripped-down production equipment. The new plants will be able to retool for different models in a few days, as opposed to nearly a month at older facilities. Such cost-saving adaptations should help them maintain profitability even when output drops sharply.

Until around 2008, Toyota had added 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles of new capacity a year, propelling its global expansion. But this buildup created fixed costs that left it exposed to the crash in automobile demand that followed the global financial crisis. Stung by a full-year operating loss, Toyota announced a three-year freeze on plant construction starting in fiscal 2013. It has since concentrated on boosting earnings capacity and has something to show for it: group operating profit for the just-ended fiscal 2014 is seen coming in at an all-time high.

Once the new factories are up and running, Toyota’s worldwide production capacity will reach 11 million vehicles.

Source: http://asia.nikkei.com/

Toyota may approve first Mexico plant in weeks, reports say

autonews.com

Photo credit: MARK BLINCH/REUTERS

Maki Shiraki and Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein
March 23, 2015 - 7:56 am ET

TOKYO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp. is finalizing plans for its first passenger car assembly plant in Mexico that could be approved by its board as early as next month, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The plant would make the popular Corolla compact sedan and begin production in 2019. Based on recent investments by rivals, including Volkswagen, a new assembly plant would represent an investment of over $1 billion for Toyota.

A green light for the plant would signal an end to a three-year expansion freeze imposed by President Akio Toyoda, who has blamed aggressive expansion a decade ago for contributing to quality lapses and a 2009 recall crisis.

Toyoda last year asked planners scouting for a site in Mexico to hit “pause” and review the rationale for the project, executives familiar with the matter said then. He urged executives to squeeze more production from existing factories.

Toyota is the last mass-market automaker without a major production hub in Mexico, which has lured car makers and suppliers through its low labor costs and tariff-free access to the U.S., Toyota's largest single market. The automaker has a plant in Mexico's Baja California that produces the Tacoma pickup, but it has no passenger car plant.

Last year, Mexican officials pitched half a dozen potential sites for a new plant, and Toyota executives have zeroed in on a site in the central state of Guanajuato, two people with knowledge of the deliberations said.

A delegation of Toyota executives recently spent a week in Guanajuato and remain in talks with local government officials over a potential plot of land that would give the automaker a big enough footprint to expand in the future, a source said.

"We are always evaluating our production capacity in Mexico, and in North America generally, to keep it in line with local market demand, but no such decision has been made at this time," Toyota spokesman Itsuki Kurosu told Reuters.

An official at Mexico's economy ministry had no immediate comment on Toyota's plans in the country. A spokesman for Guanajuato's economic development department declined to comment.
The Mexico plant would produce a new generation of the Corolla, which will also be made at a factory in Japan, people with knowledge of the company's plans said.

Toyota said it sold close to 340,000 Corollas last year in the U.S. alone.

Mazda Motor Corp. opened an assembly plant in Guanajuato early last year, which will also produce vehicles for Toyota under an agreement between the automakers. In June last year, Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co. announced plans to build a new small-car joint-venture plant in Mexico at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The wave of new investment by automakers has brought hundreds of Japanese auto parts suppliers to Mexico over the past few years. Auto production in Mexico doubled to more than 3 million vehicles a year in the five years to 2014.

Toyota's Corolla plant in Blue Springs, Miss., which opened in 2011, was the automaker's most recent assembly plant to come on line in North America.

With production capacity in Mexico, Japanese automakers avoid the risk of a stronger cutting into profits on exports and minimize the risk of a disruption to sales from events like the labor dispute that slowed trade through the U.S. West Coast earlier this year.

 

 

 

Toyota plant is on front burner again

 

Redesigned Tacoma, built in Mexico.AP

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico News Daily | Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Toyota passenger car assembly plant in Mexico is once again a possibility, according to four company executives who spoke with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The automotive manufacturer has lifted a three-year freeze on building new capacity that was supposed to expire in March 2016. The freeze was imposed as part of efforts to maximize capacity at the company’s existing plants.

The latest information is that initial feasibility studies for two new plants in China and one in Mexico have already been completed, and “the teams are ready to execute.” Guanajuato is a location under consideration for the Mexico factory.

Toyota has one plant in Mexico now, building Tahoma trucks in Tijuana, but it is not a full assembly plant. It is the only big automaker without such a plant in Mexico.

In September it was reported, again by anonymous sources, to be looking at Mexico for expansion, but those plans were scotched by president Akio Toyoda.

But economic improvement in the United States has brought renewed demand and China’s market continues to grow, so automakers are looking at expansion.

A redesigned Tacoma was introduced yesterday at the Detroit auto show, where the company’s chief North American executive, William Fay, said a third shift will be added in Tijuana to boost production of the new model. It was the first full redesign of the Tacoma in 11 years.tacoa

Truck sales have been strong in the U.S. as a result of the economic improvement and lower fuel prices.

Source: Reuters (en), New York Times (en)

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Toyota to Increase Production in México

by Murry Page 

20 Sep 14  

mazmessenger.com

 

Toyota Motor Company revealed expansion plans for México. The world’s largest automaker will be increasing production capacity by 40 percent at its Baja California factory near Tijuana, which manufacturers the Tacoma mid-size pickup truck.

The production of Tacoma pickup trucks will be increased by 89,000 vehicles. The upgrade follows an earlier capacity upgrade of 14 percent to 68,000 vehicles. A third shift will be added to the plant adding 300 jobs, in order to manage increased production.

Mike Bafan, president of the Baja California plant, said in a statement,” “We continue to see growth in the truck market,” adding, “Moving to three shifts allows us to fully utilize capacity and meet customer demand.”

Toyota Motor Company is the only world’s major automaker that does not have an assembly plant in México. The Tijuana plant, which is Toyota’s only plant in México, handles painting, body welding, and assembly of Tacoma trucks.

Last week Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported that Toyota was scouting the country for potential sites for a new plant to build passenger cars, something it has been evaluating for the past two years.

However, after the Bloomberg report Automotive News reported that Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president, implemented a three-year freeze on new factories through 2016.

(from Forbes)

Toyota said to be scouting factory site

The Tacoma plant in TijuanaCARS.COM

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico News Daily | Wednesday, September 10, 2014

 

It’s only been two weeks since the last time a new automotive assembly plant was announced in Mexico, but another might be coming soon, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The agency said today that Toyota Motor Corp., the last of the big auto makers without a complete assembly plant in Mexico, is scouting locations. Two people reported to be in the know said the Japanese firm was looking at various states, and met this week with federal officials for preliminary discussions.

But at this point neither the size of the plant nor the timeframe has been defined. “We are always evaluating opportunities in North America in line with market demand, but no decisions have been made,” said company spokeswoman Tania Saldana.

The world’s biggest auto maker in terms of production, Toyota has a small truck factory in Tijuana where it produces the Tacoma pickup but it’s not considered a fully assembly plant. Its annual output is 63,000 vehicles.

The new Mazda plant in Guanajuato, which opened in February, will eventually produce Toyotas as well, with production expected to total 50,000 units a year.

Kia Motors announced last month it would build a US $1 billion factory in Nuevo León that will produce 300,000 cars a year.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

- See more at: http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/toyota-said-scouting-factory-site/#sthash.ciQmTkre.dpuf

Hyundai taps Toyota exec to launch Mexico sales

autonews.com

Ryan Beene
Automotive News
February 6, 2014 - 8:06 am ET 

 

LOS ANGELES -- Hyundai Motor Co. formally established a sales operation in Mexico and tapped a Toyota executive based in the country to lead the effort.

The company said the fully owned subsidiary, Hyundai Motor Mexico, will begin operations at a Mexico City headquarters in May.

The company did not indicate which models it plans to sell at launch, nor how many dealers it has signed on, but said the dealer network will initially focus on markets in mid-Mexico, including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.

Hyundai said it named Pedro Albarran managing director of the Mexico sales arm earlier this year.
Albarran, according to his LinkedIn profile, was most recently vice president of automotive operations for Toyota de Mexico.

He oversaw sales, marketing, distribution, vehicle and parts logistics, market representation and customer service in Mexico for the brand since 2009, according to his profile.

"Some of the top dealers in the nation have signed on to join our sales network and we will be ready to compete head on with other brands immediately," Albarran said in a statement.

Hyundai signaled plans to officially enter the Mexican market last year when it ended a 14-year distribution pact with Chrysler Group.

Under the deal, Hyundai vehicles were sold in Mexico under the Dodge brand. Previously, the Hyundai Accent subcompact was sold in Mexico as the Dodge Attitude, while the i10 mini-car was known as the "i10 by Dodge," though both vehicles carried the Hyundai badge on their grilles.

The Mexican light-vehicle market is small, with annual sales of about 1 million units, and dominated by three automakers: Nissan Motor Co., General Motors and Volkswagen AG. The three automakers controlled about 60 percent of the market in 2013.

"The Mexico auto market is showing more potential than ever and we are excited to finally enter this market with our own badge," Tak Uk Im, COO of Hyundai Motor Co., said in a statement. "Our brand, as well as our global production and sales network, has strengthened immensely in recent years and we are confident that we can offer the best products and services in Mexico."

It's unclear where Hyundai will source vehicles to be sold in Mexico.

The company's U.S. manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala., is operating near maximum capacity, churning out a record 399,495 vehicles Sonata mid-sized sedans and Elantra compact cars last year.

Kia's plant in West Point, Ga., where the Hyundai Santa Fe crossover is built, is also running near full-tilt, building 369,299 units of the Santa Fe, Kia Optima and Kia Sorento last year, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

Globally, Hyundai's production plants are in a similar position, with each region fighting for a larger slice of the automaker's vehicle output.