Toyota, Mazda Announce Huntsville as Site for New Plant
Mazda and Toyota announced Huntsville as the city of choice for a new manufacturing plant on Wednesday.
Mazda Motor Corporation CEO Masamichi Kogai and Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda made the announcement alongside Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that the north Alabama city had been selected as the site for a joint-venture manufacturing plant. Both corporations expect to invest a total of $1.6 billion into the project, a site that is anticipated to produce 300,000 vehicles annually starting in 2021. The project is expected to create 4,000 new jobs at a median salary of $50,000 a year.
The partnership comes as Mazda looks to build its presence in the US auto market and marks a bigger commitment to US ventures from Toyota, with the new site being built just miles away from its Huntsville motor manufacturing facility. “Our investment to establish a new vehicle assembly plant with Mazda builds on the very success we have enjoyed in Alabama,” Toyoda said in a statement. “We are committed to becoming a ‘best-in-town company’ in the city of Huntsville and the state of Alabama.”
Huntsville was chosen after a major bidding competition involving 12 states, the closest competitor being North Carolina. In a move to secure the bid, an incentive package was put together by the state totaling nearly $400 million dollars. According to data from the Alabama Department of Commerce, this includes jobs and investment credits worth an estimated $300 million dollars over the next 10 years, as well as sales and property tax abatements.
The announcement has been welcomed by local and state officials, with U.S. Sen. Doug Jones calling the decision “a tremendous step forward for Alabama’s growing technology sector and our ability to recruit quality businesses in the future.” Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle said the new site “vaults Alabama to the top as an industry leader in producing the next generation of cars that will power our nation.”
At U.N., amid jeers and cheers, Netanyahu says Israel ‘must finish the job’ in Gaza
The Israeli prime minister's speech was defiant, despite his growing international isolation over his refusal to end the devastating war to eradicate Hamas.
Gulf South pharmacies make their own rules amid confusing COVID guidance: ‘It’s clear as mud’
Unclear rules and inconsistent interpretations of federal and state COVID-19 vaccination rules leave families confused and vulnerable patients unprotected.
Cellist Joshua Roman’s journey from long COVID back to the stage
Since childhood, Joshua Roman's life revolved around the cello. But when long COVID forced him to set his cello aside, he had to rethink his approach to life, faith and music.
Asheville hopes for a big fall tourist season to boost its post Helene economy
As October brings vivid mountain colors, the post Helene hospitality industry in Asheville, North Carolina hopes for a big return of tourists.
There was no rapture this week, so the quiz returns. Can you score a perfect 11?
This week, Jimmy Kimmel returned, a weird statue vanished and no one (to our knowledge) got snatched up to heaven.
Trump’s TikTok deal payment criticized as ‘shake-down scheme’ by experts
The U.S. government will collect a multibillion-dollar fee from the American investors who will take over TikTok. Some experts call the fee and other deals like it "extortion."