Toyota, GM announce plant investments

Two automakers have announced manufacturing investments in the United States worth a combined total of more than $1 billion.

The investments by General Motors (GM) and Toyota Group involve six existing facilities, most of which have metals-intensive aspects to their operations.

GM announced this week that it intends to spend about $250 million at its Parma Metal Center in Parma, Ohio. The automaker says the investment will enable production of sheet metal stampings to support earlier announced investments at assembly plants in Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee.

Stamping plants such as the one in Ohio can generate steady amounts of recyclable steel, while automotive production facilities of all kinds also yield recyclable plastic films and old corrugated containers.

“With this new commitment, GM’s total manufacturing investments for 2025 now approach $5.5 billion, underscoring the company’s aggressive commitment to domestic manufacturing and meeting customer demand across its internal combustion engine and electric vehicle portfolio,” the company says.

The Plano, Texas-based Toyota Motor North America business unit of Toyota announced earlier this week a series of investments in U.S. manufacturing totaling $912 million. Toyota says growing its hybrid vehicle production capacity is at the root of those investments.

Those funds will be invested in facilities in Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The Toyota facility in Blue Springs, Mississippi, has been designated as the assembly plant for a hybrid-electric version of the Toyota Corolla. Metals casting operations are the focus of investments at Toyota plants in Troy, Missouri, and Jackson, Tennessee.

The Troy casting plant will receive a new cylinder head production line for hybrid vehicles. On its website, Toyota says the Troy facility as uses recycled aluminum to build thousands of cylinder heads per day.

The Jackson casting facility’s spending includes the installation of three new production lines for transaxle cases, housings and engine blocks for hybrid vehicles designed to increase production capacity by nearly 500,000 units annually, according to Toyota. The company says its Jackson plant uses aluminum to create thousands of engine blocks and transmission cases and housings every day.

At the Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, a new machining line for four-cylinder hybrid-compatible engines will be installed, while in Buffalo, West Virginia, increased assembly capacity for four-cylinder hybrid-compatible engines, transaxles and rear motor stators comprises the focus of the investment.

“Customers are embracing Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, and our U.S. manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand,” says Kevin Voelkel, senior vice president at the company. “Toyota’s philosophy is to build where we sell, and by adding more American jobs and investing across our U.S. footprint, we continue to stay true to that philosophy.”