Location, logistics may have lured Toyota-Mazda to Alabama

January 10, 2018: AL.com (full link below)

Location, logistics may have lured Toyota-Mazda to Alabama

Toyota and Mazda will locate their coveted $1.6 billion factory in Huntsville at a Limestone County megasite was the end of a six-month process where the two corporations sifted through the resumes of 11 states for the right fit.

How did Alabama do it?

Several factors may have been the difference.

Alan Baum, an independent auto analyst with Baum and Associates of West Bloomfield, Mich., named two – location and proximity to an existing base of auto suppliers

Huntsville also lies close to existing auto suppliers in Tennessee, 21 miles from Toyota’s engine plant which is currently undergoing a $106 million expansion, and not far from the company’s plant in Mississippi.

The site is only a short drive from Polaris and the Target Distribution Center off Interstate 565, three miles from I-565, six miles from I-65 and within 10 miles of the Tennessee River.

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2018/01/location_logistics_may_have_lu.html