Toyota restarting construction on Mississippi plant as auto market recovers

Toyota decides to restart Mississippi auto plant

TOKYO — Toyota will restart the delayed construction of its Mississippi plant, which will provide 2,000 jobs and be up and running by the fall of next year, the Japanese automaker said Thursday.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s auto plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, was initially planned to be completed by 2010, but building was suspended after the U.S. economy nose-dived in late 2008.

The Mississippi plant will make 150,000 Corolla compact cars a year, a change of plans from the initial plan to make the Prius hybrid there, Toyota said.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said he was happy to make the announcement, and expressed appreciation for the understanding on the delay shown by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

“We aim to give our full effort to manufacturing vehicles that can bring joy and to contribute to the region’s economy and society,” he said in a statement.

Toyota, the world’s No. 1 automaker, had been on an expansion track until sales tanked from the financial crisis.

The latest plan signals that Toyota is again ready to tackle a growth strategy, after managing to return to the black for the fiscal year ended March 31. The Japanese automaker had racked up its worst loss in its history the previous fiscal year.

Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury model, has also been plagued by a massive quality crisis, resulting in the recall of 9 million vehicles around the world since October, mainly in the U.S. for problems such as gas pedal defects and braking software glitches.

Toyota had said it is stalling plans on the Mississippi plant until it feels demand is recovering.