Toyota, Mazda said to eye Alabama for 4,000 jobs

National reports are saying that Toyota and Mazda have chosen an Alabama site for a new 4,000-job, $1.6 billion plant.

USA Today, among others, has reported that the Japanese automakers will soon announce that they will locate a new joint-venture factory in a state that already has Toyota, Hyundai Honda and Mercedes-Benz factories.

The companies aren’t commenting yet, but an official announcement is expected later today.

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If confirmed, the investment would be another big auto manufacturing coup for a Southern state. Georgetown, Ky., of course, has been known for its Toyota assembly site since the mid-1980s. But Nissan has operations in Tennessee and Mississippi. Volkswagen is also in Tennessee. Hyundai is already in Alabama, as is Mercedes-Benz. BMW has a plant in South Carolina. And there are other examples.

Toyota and Mazda last summer announced a joint venture to build a $1.6 billion assembly plant in the U.S. which would create 4,000 jobs and be up and running by 2021.

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Announcements of this size are uncommon. If confirmed, a plant like this would be the fourth new U.S. assembly plant in about the last decade when it opens in 2021.

Fuyao Glass America, based in Moraine, supplies North American auto plants with safety glass. The increase in American auto production capacity could be good news for that local plant and its 2,000 employees.

Both Toyota and Mazda are among Fuyao’s many customers.

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