AM Staff

Toyota Motor Manufacturing plans to expand its plant in Huntsville, AL, to produce four-cylinder engines, with the new capacity to be in operation by summer 2011. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama (TMMAL) currently produces 145,000 V6 engines and 216,000 V8 engines annually. With a targeted output of 216,000 four-cylinder engines per year, TMMAL will have a total engine capacity of 577,000 units once the expansion is complete.

As of June, Toyota’s North American engine capacity totals 1,733,000 units, including L4, V6, and V8 designs.

Significantly, Toyota will expand its wholly owned Bodine Aluminum metalcasting plants, located in Troy, MO, and Jackson, TN, in order to supply the four-cylinder blocks and heads to the Huntsville location. The total investment at those two plants will be $25 million, Toyota explained, and result in up to 60 new jobs.

"The four-cylinder engines to be produced in Alabama will be for Camry and RAV4 (vehicles)," stated Jim Wiseman, v.p. - Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc.

Currently, engines are imported from Japan for Toyota RAV4s assembled at Woodstock, ON, and Camrys assembled at Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc, in Lafayette, IN (a Toyota-Subaru joint venture that started up 2006.) "We're pleased to be moving all of this production to North America,” Wiseman said.

TMMAL manufacturers truck engines, at present. It has been in operation since 2004. Toyota said its investment at Huntsville will total $637 million once the new capacity is installed.