Toyota’s facility in Blue Springs will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a ‘Back Porch Blues’ concert on Nov. 4. “The progress our team members have made over the past 10 years has been amazing,” Vice President of Administration Mike Botkin said in a release. “Their commitment to quality and safety, plus the unwavering support we have received from the community, ...

By DENNIS SEID / Daily Journal Whether Mississippi is the leading contender for an automotive assembly plant jointly operated by Toyota and Mazda is the $1.6 billion question. The two Japanese automakers said earlier this month they plan to build the plant, which will build the Toyota Corolla and future Mazda crossover vehicles, by 2021. The facility, which requires at ...

Toyota’s announcement Aug. 4 that it had signed a joint venture agreement with Mazda to build Corollas and other vehicles sent state and local leaders through a range of emotions – surprise, concern and hope. If you didn’t hear, the two Japanese automakers, which signed an agreement two years ago to work closer together, said they would build a $1.6 billion ...

By DENNIS SEID / Daily Journal BLUE SPRINGS – Toyota Mississippi officials said production of the Corolla at the Blue Springs plant won’t be affected by Friday’s announcement that Toyota will be building the vehicle at a new $1.6 billion assembly plant in which it is partnering with Mazda. A location for the plant hasn’t been decided, but the facility ...

By JACK WEATHERLY The same day that workers at the Nissan North America plant in Canton voted strongly against unionizing, another Japanese automaker with Mississippi ties, Toyota, announced it would team up with Mazda Motor Corp. to build another assembly plant in the South. A vote to join the United Auto Workers union would have sent a message to foreign automakers, which ...

Toyota Motor Co. says it will build a $10 million center for visitors and interactive training at its northeast Mississippi assembly plant. The Japanese automaker’s announcement came Thursday as it marked the 10th anniversary of the plant’s groundbreaking. The factory, with 2,000 workers assembling Corolla sedans, began production in 2011. Toyota says construction on the 15,000-square-foot building will begin in ...

Looking back at the decade since Toyota announced it was building a plant in Blue Springs, I’m still a bit surprised by the credit my newspaper was given for “keeping the news secret” until the day of the official announcement. To be honest, we didn’t know much more than anyone the day before it happened. What did we know and ...

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that if Toyota goes ahead with plans to build the Corolla sedan at a new factory in Mexico instead of the U.S., it could be hit with a “big border tax” when the cars are shipped north. But Toyota – and other automakers – have their reasons for spreading the wealth when it comes ...

A new manager will take over at Toyota’s Mississippi assembly plant on Jan. 1. The unit of Japanese-based Toyota Motor Corp. says Akitoshi Ichino will become president of the Blue Springs plant, which has more than 1,600 workers. Founding president Masafumi Hamaguchi, who has run Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi since 2010, will return to Japan. The $800 million Blue Springs ...

By DENNIS SEID Daily Journal BLUE SPRINGS – Last week, Toyota Mississippi quietly reached a significant landmark: five years of production. There was no big celebration to mark the occasion, however. That will come next year, when Toyota recognizes the 10-year anniversary of its initial announcement that Blue Springs would be the site of its eighth North American manufacturing plant. ...