Toyota breaks ground in Woodstock, Ont.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) President Katsuaki Watanabe, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) President Ray Tanguay broke ground Oct. 11 at the future site of a new Toyota plant in Woodstock, Ont. This will be the first new "greenfield" automotive plant in Canada in nearly 20 years.

Announced in June, the Woodstock plant will be managed by TMMC in Cambridge. Scheduled to open in 2008, the plant represents a CDN$800 million/US$650 million investment. It will have the capacity to build 100,000 units annually of the next-generation Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle and will employ 1,300 team members. TMMC currently employs 4,300 at its Cambridge location, where it produces the Corolla, Matrix, and Lexus RX330.