DEVELOPING: New Mazda Toyota supplier Vuteq to create 200 jobs
Published 9:45 am Wednesday, August 21, 2019
- The Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant is under construction in southern Limestone County.
MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday announced that global automotive supplier Vuteq USA plans to invest more than $60 million to open a manufacturing facility to serve the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. auto assembly plant in Huntsville.
Japan-based Vuteq, which has operated in North America for over three decades, will hire approximately 200 workers for its first production location in Alabama. The company joins a growing list of Tier 1 suppliers that have announced plans to set up operations in the region.
“The automotive cluster growing around Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. is gaining another significant addition with Vuteq’s decision to open a manufacturing facility in Huntsville,” Ivey said. “Vuteq has established a large industrial footprint in the United States, and it’s great to see the company expand that presence to our state. We look forward to working with Vuteq and seeing it grow in Sweet Home Alabama.”
Vuteq USA will produce interior and exterior plastic-injected parts and various sub-assemblies for Mazda and Toyota at their shared Alabama assembly plant, now under construction on a 2,500-acre tract in the Limestone County portion of Huntsville.
“Vuteq USA Inc. is very pleased and excited to be opening our next plant in Alabama,” Kazumasa Watanabe, president of Vuteq USA. “Our company is thankful for the support provided by the City of Huntsville and State of Alabama as we begin a new chapter.”
Construction work at Vuteq’s site at 7306 Greenbriar Parkway Northwest, just outside the MTMUS campus, is scheduled to begin in October. Construction work is expected to be completed in September 2020, followed by initial production trials of equipment, molds and secondary systems. A production launch is targeted for 2021.