The four-cylinder engines will go into the new 2012 Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna and Venza.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama (TMMAL) today started production of four-cylinder engines at its ten year old plant.
The addition of four-cylinder engine production boosts TMMAL’s employment to almost 1,000 and total investment to $637 million. Total annual engine capacity of four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines is now more than 500,000. TMMAL is the only Toyota plant in the world making four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines.
The Toyota four-cylinder engines will go into the all-new 2012 Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna and Venza. The V6 and V8 engines are being produced for the Tundra and Tacoma pick-up trucks and the Sequoia SUV.
Both of Toyota’s Bodine Aluminum castings plants, located in Troy, Mo., and Jackson, Tenn., have also added capacity to provide cylinder heads and blocks to TMMAL. Combined investment of these two facilities is $25 million and 60 new jobs were created.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
