By Michael Tomberlin
The $1.6 billion Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. plant hasn’t even broken ground yet in Huntsville but is already having an impact.
“This is a transformational project for north Alabama because of the sheer magnitude of what Mazda and Toyota are combining to do,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. “This is a major automotive manufacturing facility, manned by 4,000 workers, and serviced by a constellation of suppliers, many of them new and located nearby. The economic impact will be massive and long-lasting. We know this because we have seen it play out before.”
It began with Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa County more than two decades ago, spawning dozens of supplier companies, hundreds of vendors and seeding an automotive industry in the state. Other seeds would come from Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in 1999 in Lincoln and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama in 2005 in Montgomery.Those automakers produced more than 1 million vehicles last year. The state now has nearly 40,000 people working in auto, engine and motor parts manufacturing, earning an average of $70,680 per year.
Please visit Alabama News Center for the Full Article
