Toyota said on Monday it will build a new $3.6bn (R58.49bn) car plant in Texas and shift some pickup production to the US from Mexico.
The Japanese carmaker said the new 232,257m² building will be located on its San Antonio manufacturing campus and will open by 2030, creating 2,000 jobs. The company said it will move production of its mid-size Tacoma pickup from its Baja California plant in Mexico to Texas when the factory is completed.
Toyota will continue to build Tacoma pickups at its Guanajuato plant in Mexico. Toyota already produces Tundra pickups and SUVs at its existing San Antonio assembly plant on the site where the new facility will be built, and a new 46,451m² rear axle plant is set to open in the autumn.
President Donald Trump has pressured carmakers to move car production to the US and has hiked tariffs on cars, steel, aluminium and parts.
Toyota said it remains committed to its operations in Mexico, Canada and the US and urged Trump to extend a North American free trade deal that carmakers say is critical to integrated car production.
In 2020 Toyota moved Tacoma production from San Antonio to the Guanajuato plant, alongside the Baja plant that had produced the pickup since 2004.
Texas governor Greg Abbott said the investment will qualify for a $20m (R324.9m) state grant and other incentives.
A White House spokesperson said Toyota’s investment announcement “is one of many being driven by the Trump administration’s agenda of tariffs, deregulation and tax cuts”.
Last year Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda wore a 2024 Trump-Vance T-shirt and a red “Make America Great Again” Trump hat, drawing praise from Trump and criticism from environmentalists.
Toyota successfully lobbied Congress and the White House to roll back California emissions rules and other EV requirements but has also faced billions of dollars in higher costs from Trump tariffs.
Reuters
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