Canada wins major Toyota factory
Ontario plant to create 1,500 jobs
By GREG KEENAN
Thursday, June 23, 2005 Updated at 5:57 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Canada has won a major victory in the North American auto plant sweepstakes, with Toyota Motor Corp. set to announce next Thursday that it will build an assembly plant near Woodstock, Ont., that could eventually employ 1,500 people.
Toyota will invest about $600-million in what will be the first new vehicle factory in Canada since 1995, the seventh Toyota assembly plant on the continent and what has been an object of ardour in recent months by politicians from Ontario to California.
Ontario won out after intense lobbying by Premier Dalton McGuinty and Economic Development Minister Joe Cordiano -- who made two trips to Japan to pitch the province's case -- and a promise of $125-million in financial help from the Ontario and federal governments. Ontario will ante up $70-million and Ottawa the remaining $55-million, sources familiar with the impending announcement said.
Spokesmen for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. in Cambridge, Ont., and provincial government officials would not comment.
The announcement by the growing global automotive powerhouse represents the third significant investment the province has won since the creation of the $500-million Ontario Automotive Investment Strategy last year.
The provincial government has targeted the auto industry as a key engine of job creation, focusing on making sure existing plants are kept open, as well as winning new plants.
The Toyota plan follows investments by Ford Motor Co. of $1-billion to redevelop its Oakville, Ont., assembly complex and the $2.5-billion General Motors Corp. Beacon Project to revamp operations in Oshawa, Ont., and significantly expand its research and development capabilities in Canada.
Those investments, however, are in existing operations and will not create as many direct jobs as the new Toyota plant, which is scheduled to be up and running in 2008.
Industry, government and union officials watched with growing dismay earlier this decade as plants closed in Canada, while Alabama, Mississippi and Texas won billions of dollars in new automotive investments that turned the region into Detroit South.
"For Canada to win the new facility sweepstakes is a tremendous coup," said one industry observer, who noted that new plant announcements have tailed off in recent years since Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. began operating in Mississippi, Hyundai Motor Co. started producing cars in Alabama and Toyota announced construction of its sixth plant, which is located in San Antonio, Tex.
Toyota employs about 4,000 people at its existing manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Ont., which turns out the Corolla compact and Matrix crossover utility vehicle and is about 50 kilometres northeast of the site of the new plant along Highway 401.
The existing plant, which has been in operation since 1988, also turns out RX330 sport utility vehicles for the auto maker's luxury Lexus line. It's the only plant outside Japan to assemble vehicles for Lexus, which is considered a key sign of how highly Toyota officials in Japan regard the Canadian operations.
The new plant is expected to assemble RAV4 compact sport utility vehicles and possibly cars for Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand, which is expanding rapidly in the U.S. market, sources at auto parts suppliers said. Scion vehicles are not sold in Canada.
A source at one parts maker said the new Toyota plant will lead to hundreds of new jobs at his company alone.
"Getting an assembly plant is a great anchor for long-term job creation," said a senior executive in Canada's auto parts industry.
A stronger Toyota presence also helps offset the potential impact in Canada of market share declines at Ford and GM. Toyota's share has been growing to the point where it has surpassed Ford as the second-largest auto maker in the world and it has a goal of capturing 15 per cent of the world vehicle market by 2010.
Ontario plant to create 1,500 jobs
By GREG KEENAN
Thursday, June 23, 2005 Updated at 5:57 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Canada has won a major victory in the North American auto plant sweepstakes, with Toyota Motor Corp. set to announce next Thursday that it will build an assembly plant near Woodstock, Ont., that could eventually employ 1,500 people.
Toyota will invest about $600-million in what will be the first new vehicle factory in Canada since 1995, the seventh Toyota assembly plant on the continent and what has been an object of ardour in recent months by politicians from Ontario to California.
Ontario won out after intense lobbying by Premier Dalton McGuinty and Economic Development Minister Joe Cordiano -- who made two trips to Japan to pitch the province's case -- and a promise of $125-million in financial help from the Ontario and federal governments. Ontario will ante up $70-million and Ottawa the remaining $55-million, sources familiar with the impending announcement said.
Spokesmen for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. in Cambridge, Ont., and provincial government officials would not comment.
The announcement by the growing global automotive powerhouse represents the third significant investment the province has won since the creation of the $500-million Ontario Automotive Investment Strategy last year.
The provincial government has targeted the auto industry as a key engine of job creation, focusing on making sure existing plants are kept open, as well as winning new plants.
The Toyota plan follows investments by Ford Motor Co. of $1-billion to redevelop its Oakville, Ont., assembly complex and the $2.5-billion General Motors Corp. Beacon Project to revamp operations in Oshawa, Ont., and significantly expand its research and development capabilities in Canada.
Those investments, however, are in existing operations and will not create as many direct jobs as the new Toyota plant, which is scheduled to be up and running in 2008.
Industry, government and union officials watched with growing dismay earlier this decade as plants closed in Canada, while Alabama, Mississippi and Texas won billions of dollars in new automotive investments that turned the region into Detroit South.
"For Canada to win the new facility sweepstakes is a tremendous coup," said one industry observer, who noted that new plant announcements have tailed off in recent years since Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. began operating in Mississippi, Hyundai Motor Co. started producing cars in Alabama and Toyota announced construction of its sixth plant, which is located in San Antonio, Tex.
Toyota employs about 4,000 people at its existing manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Ont., which turns out the Corolla compact and Matrix crossover utility vehicle and is about 50 kilometres northeast of the site of the new plant along Highway 401.
The existing plant, which has been in operation since 1988, also turns out RX330 sport utility vehicles for the auto maker's luxury Lexus line. It's the only plant outside Japan to assemble vehicles for Lexus, which is considered a key sign of how highly Toyota officials in Japan regard the Canadian operations.
The new plant is expected to assemble RAV4 compact sport utility vehicles and possibly cars for Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand, which is expanding rapidly in the U.S. market, sources at auto parts suppliers said. Scion vehicles are not sold in Canada.
A source at one parts maker said the new Toyota plant will lead to hundreds of new jobs at his company alone.
"Getting an assembly plant is a great anchor for long-term job creation," said a senior executive in Canada's auto parts industry.
A stronger Toyota presence also helps offset the potential impact in Canada of market share declines at Ford and GM. Toyota's share has been growing to the point where it has surpassed Ford as the second-largest auto maker in the world and it has a goal of capturing 15 per cent of the world vehicle market by 2010.