Toyota Motor Corp. is investing $170 million at its Blue Springs, Miss., assembly plant to build the 12th-generation Corolla sedan, creating 400 jobs.
The venerable small car is moving to a new platform known as Toyota New Global Architecture and production lines at the Mississippi plant will be replaced as part of the investment.
"We will be able to respond quicker and be more flexible in order to meet market demands down the road," Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, said in a statement Thursday.
The transformation of Blue Springs to the TNGA platform, along with an increase in output, will create 400 jobs in the next 12 months, Toyota said.
Toyota, in the statement, said the plans would bring its total investment into the plant to more than $1 billion since 2007 - and added to the company's ongoing plans to expand U.S. operations.
"This investment directly supports Toyota’s plan to invest $10 billion in its U.S. facilities over the next five years," the statement said. "This investment brings the company to $4.27 billion of new investment in the U.S. since the commitment was announced in 2017. Toyota’s total investment in the U.S. over the past 60 years is $25 billion."
Toyota is moving some Corolla production from Canada to the U.S. to increase output of the redesigned RAV4 crossover north of the border.
The company is also building an assembly plant in Alabama to produce the Corolla as part of a joint venture with Mazda. The redesigned Corolla hatchback coming this summer is built outside North America because of its low volume.
Toyota has moved the Camry and Avalon to the new architecture at its plant in Georgetown, Ky., and is moving the Lexus ES to another platform, GA-K, a luxury version of TNGA.
