(November 18, 2011) BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. — Toyota celebrated the opening of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi on Thursday, the company’s new $800 million plant outside of Tupelo that assembles the compact Corolla.

Joining the celebration were Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
 
The Mississippi is Toyota’s 14th North American plant, further advancing the company’s efforts to design, develop and build vehicles where they are sold. The plant has the annual capacity to produce 150,000 vehicles and will employ nearly 2,000.
 
Speaking at ceremony, Toyoda said, “Building vehicles where we sell them helps us be even closer to our customers. The U.S. market remains a key to Toyota’s overall success, and Toyota Mississippi will play an important role for us here.”

Toyota team members assemble the 2012 Corolla at the Blue Springs, Miss., plant.
 
Toyota’s Buffalo, W. Va., engine plant is supplying all engines for Corolla production in Mississippi. Cylinder heads and blocks for those engines are produced at both of Toyota’s Bodine Aluminum castings plants, located in Troy, Mo., and Jackson, Tenn.
 
When Toyota announced the Blue Springs project, they also announced a partnership with the CREATE Foundation and a donation of $50 million — $5 million a year for 10 years — was also announced toward an innovative addition to the public school system in the Pontotoc, Union, and Lee counties. The Center for Professional Futures will be an education facility that will expose students in the eight school districts in the PUL Alliance counties in to professional careers through high performance teaching and a modern learning environment.