Toyota Expands USA Plant to Construct Tacoma Engines
Turbo 2.4-liter i-FORCE Tacoma engines will come out of Huntsville, Alabama courtesy of a newly-opened solar-powered production facility.
You may or may not be familiar with the fact that Toyota runs a hefty operation of building its vehicles and components here in the U.S. Thanks to a recent expansion, the 2,000 employees at Toyota’s Huntsville, Alabama plant have confident job security as Toyota begins production of the 2.4-liter i-FORCE 2024 Tacoma engine. So, for any prospective Tacoma buyers, you can take comfort in knowing that Toyota employees proudly built your engine just 15 minutes away from where NASA developed the Saturn V rocket that took man to the moon!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the 2024 Toyota Tacoma engine lineup consists of the above-mentioned 2.4-liter turbocharged i-FORCE engine or the same engine in a hybrid configuration. Thanks to this option, every line at Toyota’s Alabama production facility now includes engines for hybrid vehicles.
Electrified Future and Sustainable Production
Producing hybrid engines cements the Alabama plant as an important foundation for Toyota’s future goals of sustainability and electrification throughout its lineup to stand on. However, Toyota didn’t stop at the engines themselves in reducing the company’s overall carbon footprint. The plant itself is contributing, too. Toyota implemented a $49 million solar array at the plant last year. Now, over 70 percent of Toyota Alabama’s energy comes from the sun.
In addition, Toyota Alabama announced grants totaling up to $6.7 million for Huntsville Alabama City Schools students as part of Toyota’s Driving Possibilities Initiative. Selected schools will receive money to expand science, technology, engineering, and math programs to prepare students for careers in those fields. Overall, it seems that Toyota is truly dedicating itself to contributing to the Huntsville community as a whole.
More Than Just Tacoma Engines
On top of the new Tacoma engines, the Alabama plant also produces engines for the Tundra, Sequoia, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Tacoma, Highlander, Sienna, and RAV4. This includes both four and six-cylinder engines. In 2023, the plant produced over 777,000 engines for U.S.-built Toyota vehicles, setting a new record high for production. Likely, though, that record will get broken throughout the 2024 calendar year thanks to the new expansion.
Toyota has now invested over $1.5 billion in the Alabama plant. So, if your concern is buying American-made, don’t feel guilty about a Toyota purchase.
Photos: Toyota