Toyota has confirmed that Corolla production is moving to Canada and Japan. The Cambridge plant will be brought back up to speed and the Aichi plant will pick up the remainder of the business.
They said they “may” consider moving production back to “North America” at some point in the future.
Do NOT count on San Antonio getting the work. That plant was built to be dedicated to building body-on-frame trucks. Retooling for the Tacoma is relatively simple, since you for the most part just need additional locating pins for the smaller bodies (Chrysler’s Warren Truck plant does this, building the Dakota and Ram on the same line).
However, a small unibody vehicle is a completely different beast. You’re essentially building a whole new plant at that point. Look at what Ford is having to do to the Michigan Truck plant to retool it to build the next generation Focus. That’s a $550 million investment. The main savings over a new plant is simply in the building. The actual equipment is completely gutted.
So, if Toyota has to pay for a new factory in the future, do you think that they’ll put it in San Antonio? Or Mexico? Toyota has shown little loyalty to US production, despite their rhetoric.
I do IT consulting at the NUMMI plant, as well as provide service to some of the suppliers in San Antonio and the Tecate BC plant.
From what I hear Toyota is not enjoying the relationship with Mexico and it’s lack of security. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull out from there and move all Tundra production to SA.
As far as the Corolla, no it won’t go to SA. I predict that it will move TO Tupelo MS, with the Prius once the economy picks up.
The whole point of this post was to point out what happens when you don't create a good environment for business. The business moves or goes out of business. Plain and simple.