It’s a big day for the folks in Huntsville, Alabama. In just five years, Mazda and Toyota’s joint venture factory west of town has hit a huge milestone. And to celebrate, plant management is giving back to the community that has helped make the plant a success.
Joint Venture Plant Is Cranking Out SUVs Like Crazy
Mazda Toyota Manufacturing has just built its one millionth vehicle. That milestone rolled off the assembly line earlier today, and it’s an impressive feat for a factory that opened almost exactly five years ago.
“Reaching one million vehicles is an extraordinary accomplishment and a testament to the dedication, skill and teamwork demonstrated by our team members every day,” said Erik Skaggs, senior vice president for Mazda Toyota Manufacturing. “From the day we broke ground, our team has worked tirelessly to build not only world-class vehicles, but also a culture rooted in collaboration and teamwork.”
To celebrate the occasion, Mazda Toyota Manufacturing announced that it was giving $120,000 in grant funding to a number of local organizations that had supported the company. That includes Calhoun Community College, Kids to Love, and Morgan County Schools.
What Vehicles Are Built At The Factory?
Mazda CX-50 production in Huntsville, AlabamaMazda
Toyota and Mazda first announced the plant in early 2018. A $1.8 billion investment was increased to $2.3 billion before the plant opened up. Each company has its own assembly line at the site, with Toyota’s named Apollo and Mazda’s Discovery. The names are a nod to the city where the plant is located, the home to the Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA’s rocket development center.
The first shovel went into the ground at the site in November 2018. It was a robotic shovel, meant to demonstrate the advanced manufacturing that would happen at the plant. Toyota started production first, in September 2021, and Mazda followed in January 2022.
This plant was set up to build the Toyota Corolla Cross and the Mazda CX-50 crossovers. The two do not share a platform, but the hybrid version of the CX-50 uses Toyota hybrid technology. The plant can build around 300,000 vehicles per year, and engines for the Corolla Cross come from a nearby Toyota engine plant that opened in 2003.
Toyota operates 11 plants in the US, including five vehicle assembly plants. Its first US assembly operation began in 1972, when it installed truck beds onto chassis cabs in the US to avoid the Chicken Tax.
Mazda first started building cars in the US in 1987, but it had various gaps in US production between then and now. Mazda’s first US plant started building the MX-6 coupe that first year. Ford took a 50% stake in that plant in 1992, and it built various Ford and Mazda models until Mazda left in 2012. Today, the Flat Rock, Michigan, plant is home to the Mustang.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Mazda CX-50 production in Huntsville, AlabamaMazda
With more than 4,000 direct employees, the MTM plant is a big deal for northern Alabama. It’s also a big deal to both Mazda and Toyota, with the former selling 110,345 CX-50s in the US in 2025 and the latter 99,798 Corolla Cross models.
The factory may have hit the million-unit milestone sooner were it not for the trade war with Canada. Mazda Canada stopped importing the CX-50 as a result of tariffs, dropping 2024’s 11,000 sales to effectively zero in 2026. CarBuzz has reached out to Toyota to find out if Corolla Cross volumes have been affected. The plant is also exporting some vehicles to Mexico.
