Toyota Investing $28 Million in Michigan Powertrain Operations

Toyota will invest $28 million to expand its powertrain research and development operations at its Ann Arbor, MI, technical center.

Bob Carter, senior vice president-automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., is set to make the announcement this afternoon in a speech at the Automotive Press Assn. in Detroit.

Toyota spokesman Curt McAllister says the investment will add about 60 new jobs at the tech center, which now employs 1,150 people.

In his prepared speech, released early to select media, Carter says Toyota employs more than 1,200 direct workers in Michigan, with another 8,000 indirect jobs attributable to the auto maker.

In recent years, Toyota has boosted its presence in Michigan, home to the Detroit Three auto makers but also the technical centers of Japanese and Korean auto makers and suppliers.

In October 2008, Toyota expanded its Ann Arbor tech center with a $187 million addition in nearby York Township. The 350,000-sq.-ft. (32,515-sq.-m) engineering-design building and 180,000-sq.-ft. (16,722-sq.-m) safety-test facility were the first of its kind outside Japan.

More recently, it has increased the responsibilities of those who work at the technical center, making some the company’s first American chief engineers.

Mike Sweers, the chief engineer of the ’14 Tundra fullsize pickup truck going on sale now at U.S. dealers, grew up near Grand Rapids, MI, and has worked at TTC for more than 20 years.

Toyota has a larger presence in other U.S. states, however, including Kentucky, where it opened its first vehicle assembly plant in the city of Georgetown in 1986 and where it now employs more than 6,000 fulltime workers.

Yesterday, the auto maker announced August sales of 231,537 units, up 18.4% on a daily-selling-rate basis.

Toyota expects to deliver 2.25 million units in the U.S. this year, a mark not seen since 2007, when 2.62 million units were sold, WardsAuto data shows.

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