Montgomery, AL, April 26, 2018 – Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and a team of Alabama job recruitment specialists traveled to Tokyo on Tuesday for meetings with Japanese automakers. Ivey said today that meetings with high-level executives from Mazda, Toyota and Honda in Japan helped to fortify the state’s relationships with the global automakers and will facilitate their growth plans in Alabama.
The Alabama delegation included Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. The group had meetings with the automakers and an appointment with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty.
The State of Alabama is the fifth largest producer of cars and light trucks nationally with a strong automotive manufacturing presence including Toyota’s engine plant in Huntsville, where Toyota employs 1,400 team members. With more than 150 Tier 1 and 2 automotive suppliers in the state as well as automakers, there are approximately 57,000 automotive manufacturing jobs in Alabama.
“Creating jobs is a team effort built upon solid relationships with business and industry leaders. When Mazda Toyota Manufacturing announced they were coming to Alabama, they chose to make this announcement in Montgomery, a sign of their support for the current direction of our state and a clear indication of the quality of our relationship,” Governor Ivey said. “By visiting with Mazda, Toyota and Honda in their home country, we have continued to kindle our relationship with these fine companies and have returned the respect they showed by meeting with me at the State Capitol in recent months.”
The mission comes amid preparations by Mazda and Toyota to construct a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Limestone County that will have 4,000 workers at full production. When production launches in 2021, Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA, as the operation is known, will become the first new assembly facility to open in Alabama in more than 15 years.
For Toyota, this joint-venture plant will be its 11th U.S. manufacturing facility and represents its continued commitment in the U.S., in addition to the $10 billion dollar investment over the next 5 years that was announced in January 2017. Toyota produces almost 2 million cars annually in the U.S.
“A goal of the mission was to reiterate our support for the development and implementation of the Mazda-Toyota joint venture’s supply chain strategy for the new assembly plant,” Secretary Canfield said. “The supplier network will be substantial, and we’d like to see it anchored in Alabama.”
Mazda and Toyota executives told the Alabama team that the project remains on target, with construction work at the Limestone County site scheduled to begin by Oct. 1. The Alabama officials assured the automakers that the production facility site will be graded and prepared for construction on that timeline.
Governor Ivey told the automakers that AIDT, the state’s primary workforce development agency, is ready to engage with them on developing a workforce program and suggested a near-term meeting to launch the process. AIDT has been involved in building Alabama’s auto industry workforce for 25 years.
“Alabama has a wealth of resources that can help these great automakers build their businesses in the state, ranging from first-class contractors that can assist with construction to research universities eager to collaborate with them to discover technical advances and new processes,” Governor Ivey said. “With this mission, we strengthened our critically important partnerships with these automakers and continued to make clear our commitment to helping them create jobs and grow over the long term, not just in their current locations, but throughout Alabama.”
During a visit to Honda, the Alabama team received an update on an expansion at the automaker’s Talladega County plant that was announced in 2017. The $85 million project will improve manufacturing flexibility at the Alabama factory. The group also got a briefing on new, advanced technologies that could possibly be introduced at the plant.
Governor Ivey and the team met Tsutomu “Mori” Morimoto, who became president of Honda Manufacturing of Alabama on April 1. He was previously president of Honda’s Canadian operation.
Honda’s $2.6 billion Alabama facility has more than 4,500 employees and produces around 340,000 vehicles and V-6 engines each year.
During an appointment with Ambassador Hagerty, the discussion focused on the strength of the U.S. auto industry, particularly in the Southeast, where the sector continues to expand.
“From my first day in office, I set out to improve Alabama’s image and to make clear to the world that Alabama is open for business,” Governor Ivey commented. “I thoroughly enjoyed my visits with the Ambassador as well as the company executives. Their invitations to Japan is a sign they recognize the positive business climate we have created in Alabama and represents their desire to continue to be a part of our current economic momentum.”
Employment in the state’s auto industry currently tops 40,000, a figure that has increased 150 percent since 2000, according to data from the Alabama Department of Commerce.