Toyota’s US unit on Thursday (26 September) said it would begin exporting US-built Corolla sedans to 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014.
Toyota’s exported a record 124,000 US-assembled vehicles to 21 markets in 2012, an increase of 45% year on year.
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Said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota’s North America Region: “The export of US-built Corolla sedans to Latin America and the Caribbean will help to further solidify our US manufacturing base.”
Production begins in April 2014 and Toyota expects to export more than 7,500 Corolla sedans to Latin America and the Caribbean during the first year.
These vehicles will be built at the company’s Tupelo, US$800m Mississippi plant which employs about 2,000. The plant was originally planned to make the Prius in the US but was switched to the Corolla after General Motors withdrew from the NUMMI manufacturing joint venture in Fremont, California. Toyota now makes most American supplies in Mississippi with some supplemental output in Canada.
