Bodine Aluminum Inc., a Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America subsidiary, broke ground on November 3 for its new engine-block casting plant in Jackson, TN. The $124-million project will take about two years to complete, with production scheduled to begin late in 2005.
The Jackson plant will manufacture about 50 million lb of castings annually, primarily from A380 alloy, and mostly for V6 engines.
Toyota’s senior managing director, Yasuhito Yamauchi, explained, "In order to sell more vehicles in North America, we will manufacture them in North America. We need engines for those vehicles, as well, which we are building in increasing numbers in Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, and California."
Toyota is also expanding its Huntsville, AL, engine plant, which produces aluminum engines for trucks.