Toyota begins four-cylinder engine production

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — State and local officials joined Toyota team members and executives yesterday to mark the start of four-cylinder engine production at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, Inc. (TMMAL) in Huntsville, Ala.

The addition of four-cylinder engine production boosts TMMAL’s employment to almost 1,000 and total investment to $637 million. Total annual engine capacity of four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines is now more than 500,000.

TMMAL is the only Toyota plant globally to produce four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines.

Toyota Motor Corporation executive vice president and representative director Atsushi Niimi said, “Engines now produced in Huntsville will go into eight Toyota models assembled in North America, furthering our commitment to localizing production. And by adding four-cylinder engines to TMMAL’s mix, we will be better prepared to react to changes in market demand.”

TMMAL-produced four-cylinder engines will go into the all-new 2012 Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna and Venza. V6 and V8 engines are being produced for the Tundra and Tacoma pick-up trucks and the Sequoia SUV.

The four-cylinder expansion at TMMAL now allows the facility to supply engines to every Toyota vehicle assembly plant in North America except the new facility in Blue Springs in Northeast Mississippi, which is scheduled to start production this fall.

Both of Toyota’s Bodine Aluminum castings plants, located in Troy, Mo., and Jackson, Tenn., have also added capacity to provide cylinder heads and blocks to TMMAL. Combined investment of these two facilities is $25 million and 60 new jobs were created.