Toyota Keeping Open Missisipi Plants

Today MSNBC News informed that Toyota will restart the overdue building of its Mississippi factory, which will provide 2,000 jobs and be ready to start operations by autumn of next year.

Toyota Motors auto plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, was originally intended to be concluded by 2010, but building was suspended after the U.S. economy sunk in late 2008.

This factory in Mississippi will build 150,000 Corollas a year, bringing back to North America assembly Toyota had briefly shifted to Japan when it pulled out of a California joint venture with General Motors Co. in April, Toyota said. Originally, it had said it would make the Prius hybrid in Mississippi.

The expansion comes at a favorable moment for Toyota, when the world's biggest automaker is stressed to fix an image beaten by an epidemic of recalls, particularly in its key North American market.

Toyota, which also brands the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury model, has been inundated by a substantial quality crisis, occasioning the recall of 9 million automobiles everywhere in world since October, mainly in the U.S. for glitches such as gas pedal flaws and braking software malfunctions.

Toyota was penalized a record $16.4 million by U.S. authorities for hanging around on the recalls. It faces more than 200 litigations in accidents, comprising fatal ones, alleged of being linked to deficiencies, and those alleging the recalls triggered the price of Toyota vehicles to plunge.

"We aim to give our full effort to manufacturing vehicles that can bring joy and to contribute to the region's economy and society," he said.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour welcomed Toyota's decision and said he had believed in Toyota all along.