In a sign of confidence that the economic recovery has staying power, Toyota is announcing that it will complete construction of its long-delayed auto plant in Blue Springs, MS, and begin operations at the $1.3-billion facility by the fall of 2011.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Japanese automaker expects to hire 2,000 workers to build Corollas at the plant. Toyota halted construction on the Mississippi assembly plant 18 months ago when the global economy collapsed. The auto assembly facility is 90 percent complete.
General Motors, meanwhile, also gave its vote of confidence to the economic trends by announcing that it will skip the regular two-week summer shutdowns at nine of its 12 U.S. assembly plants. GM is reported a 17 percent rebound in auto sales for the first five months of this year.
