Toyota Motor Corporation is shifting future production plans at the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. (MTMUS) joint venture assembly plant as an opportunity to build a new, yet-to-be-announced SUV.

This shift is in response to changing market demands and growing consumer appetite for light trucks and SUVs which are achieving record sales, including Toyota’s best-selling RAV4. The production of the Corolla continues at Toyota’s Blue Springs, Mississippi, plant.

The first steel beam installation of the plant

The construction of MTMUS in Huntsville, Alabama, is said to be on schedule, with the start of production of the vehicles expected to begin in 2021. Up to 4,000 new jobs is expected to be created and hiring is underway.

In August 2017, Toyota and Mazda announced a collaboration to establish MTMUS, a $1.6 billion (Rs 10,947 crore) joint venture that will assemble up to 300,000 vehicles annually.