Details surrounding the Mexico expansion surfaced last month, but a fresh report by Nikkei suggests a new plant will be built in China first, sometime in 2018, before the new North American facility opens the following year.
The China plant is said to be the smaller of the two, with an annual output of 100,000 units annually, while the Mexico facility — used to build a new Corolla — is expected to produce up to 200,000 vehicles per year. Construction is said to require approximately $1.25 billion USD.
The company is nearing the end of its three-year freeze on building new plants, ordered as part of a quality-focused strategy from president Akio Toyoda in response to the unintended-acceleration recall crisis.
The company last week outlined new assembly strategies that promise to streamline operations and significantly reduce the investment requirements for new factories and retooling efforts. Downsized machinery and energy-efficient processes are central elements in the new “simple and slim” production lines.
An official confirmation of the expansion plans is expected to be announced within the next few weeks.
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