At a ceremony today with the local community, Toyota broke ground on the future site of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc. (TMMMS), its eighth vehicle manufacturing plant in North America.


Production at the $1.3 billion plant is scheduled to begin by 2010 with 2,000 team members that will produce the Toyota Highlander SUV; annual vehicle capacity will be 150,000 units. Once production begins at TMMMS, Toyota will have the capacity to produce approximately 2.2 million cars and trucks annually in North America.


Attending the ceremony were Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Toyota Motor Corporation president Katsuaki Watanabe. They congratulated the community for its hard work and commitment to bringing Toyota to the state.


"Today's groundbreaking actually puts this project ahead of schedule and we intend to keep it that way," said Governor Barbour. "We want Toyota to see Mississippi as the best partner they've ever had."


"Our goal is to make a positive contribution to the community while beginning a new partnership with local citizens," said Watanabe. "We will make every effort to be the best business partner in Mississippi and thank Governor Barbour and all citizens for their warm welcome."


U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott and Congressman Roger Wicker expressed their appreciation to the community and to Toyota via a taped message.


Excavation at the Blue Springs site began in March and site preparation will begin in May. It is expected that 2,000 construction workers will be on- site during peak of construction in summer 2008. Most of these construction workers will be hired locally.

Its good that it provides jobs and all that, but in the end the money goes to the Japanese economy. Its not much different than if the car was just built in Japan itself.

Yen has a lot to do with it. The parts are all produced in japan. Then shipped here in boxes so the cars are put together like models.