Toyota to invest $800M in new Ontario plant
Toyota formally announced Thursday that it will build its second Canadian auto assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont., creating thousands of direct and spinoff jobs. The announcement ends months of speculation that the Japanese giant had selected the southwestern Ontario town as its preferred site for the new facility, which will pump out 100,000 vehicles a year when it's up and running by 2008.
Toyota said the new plant will build RAV4 sport utility vehicles. There are reports it will also build the Scion, a youth-oriented subcompact that is not yet available in Canada.
The plant is expected to create 1,300 direct jobs and several thousand additional jobs at parts manufacturers and related industries.
"Twenty years ago, Toyota management made two profound decisions: We decided to make a sweeping commitment to manufacturing in North America, and we decided that Canada would be a core part of that commitment," Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said in a videotaped message.
Toyota's existing Ontario plant is 40 kilometres away from Woodstock, in Cambridge. It makes Corollas, the Matrix crossover vehicle, and a luxury model from Toyota's Lexus line.
Toyota said the new site's location near Cambridge and near the U.S. border is no coincidence. "Its proximity to suppliers on both sides of the border will benefit both countries and it will mean new opportunities for those suppliers," said Toyota managing director Atsushi Niimi.
Ottawa, province kicking in $125M
The Ontario and federal governments are providing $125 million in financial aid.
Ontario's share, $70 million, will go towards training and infrastructure.
Referring to the rising health-care costs faced by U.S. automakers, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty cited medicare as one reason why Ontario won out over a U.S. location.
"We've always said medicare is one of our competitive advantages – and Toyota has chosen the stability that medicare provides investors in Ontario," he said.
The $55 million from Ottawa is in the form of "repayable support," according to a government release.
It would be the latest in a string of automotive investments in Ontario, which relies on the automotive and car parts industries for hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In March, General Motors announced it would spend $2.5 billion in a massive revamp of its Oshawa operations. Ford of Canada is in the process of a $1.2-billion redevelopment of its Oakville facilities.
CAW calls on Toyota to buy more Canadian parts
The CAW union, which is the midst of an organizing drive at Toyota's Cambridge plant, said it welcomed the Woodstock announcement.
But CAW president Buzz Hargrove called on Toyota and Honda (which has a plant in Aliston, Ont.) to buy more parts in Ontario.
"These two producers account for almost one third of vehicles assembled in Canada, but they buy less than 10 per cent of the auto parts made in Canada," Hargrove said in a statement.
Toyota is number 4 in Canadian vehicle sales through the first five months of 2005, according to automotive consultant Dennis DesRosiers. GM is first, followed by DaimlerChrysler and Ford.
Toyota also announced Thursday it will spend $39 million to expand capacity at its wheel plant in Delta, B.C. The expansion work will take two years and will result in a 17 per cent boost in capacity.
CBC
Well now, some good news for a change.
Toyota formally announced Thursday that it will build its second Canadian auto assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont., creating thousands of direct and spinoff jobs. The announcement ends months of speculation that the Japanese giant had selected the southwestern Ontario town as its preferred site for the new facility, which will pump out 100,000 vehicles a year when it's up and running by 2008.
Toyota said the new plant will build RAV4 sport utility vehicles. There are reports it will also build the Scion, a youth-oriented subcompact that is not yet available in Canada.
The plant is expected to create 1,300 direct jobs and several thousand additional jobs at parts manufacturers and related industries.
"Twenty years ago, Toyota management made two profound decisions: We decided to make a sweeping commitment to manufacturing in North America, and we decided that Canada would be a core part of that commitment," Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said in a videotaped message.
Toyota's existing Ontario plant is 40 kilometres away from Woodstock, in Cambridge. It makes Corollas, the Matrix crossover vehicle, and a luxury model from Toyota's Lexus line.
Toyota said the new site's location near Cambridge and near the U.S. border is no coincidence. "Its proximity to suppliers on both sides of the border will benefit both countries and it will mean new opportunities for those suppliers," said Toyota managing director Atsushi Niimi.
Ottawa, province kicking in $125M
The Ontario and federal governments are providing $125 million in financial aid.
Ontario's share, $70 million, will go towards training and infrastructure.
Referring to the rising health-care costs faced by U.S. automakers, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty cited medicare as one reason why Ontario won out over a U.S. location.
"We've always said medicare is one of our competitive advantages – and Toyota has chosen the stability that medicare provides investors in Ontario," he said.
The $55 million from Ottawa is in the form of "repayable support," according to a government release.
It would be the latest in a string of automotive investments in Ontario, which relies on the automotive and car parts industries for hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In March, General Motors announced it would spend $2.5 billion in a massive revamp of its Oshawa operations. Ford of Canada is in the process of a $1.2-billion redevelopment of its Oakville facilities.
CAW calls on Toyota to buy more Canadian parts
The CAW union, which is the midst of an organizing drive at Toyota's Cambridge plant, said it welcomed the Woodstock announcement.
But CAW president Buzz Hargrove called on Toyota and Honda (which has a plant in Aliston, Ont.) to buy more parts in Ontario.
"These two producers account for almost one third of vehicles assembled in Canada, but they buy less than 10 per cent of the auto parts made in Canada," Hargrove said in a statement.
Toyota is number 4 in Canadian vehicle sales through the first five months of 2005, according to automotive consultant Dennis DesRosiers. GM is first, followed by DaimlerChrysler and Ford.
Toyota also announced Thursday it will spend $39 million to expand capacity at its wheel plant in Delta, B.C. The expansion work will take two years and will result in a 17 per cent boost in capacity.
CBC
Well now, some good news for a change.
