Baja California Seeks New Assembly Lines with Toyota
Three months after Toyota announced plans to transfer Tacoma production from its plant in Baja California (TMMBC) to San Antonio, Texas, in a process expected to take approximately four years, the state government is keeping negotiations open to attract new assembly lines to the facility, according to Kurt Honold, Baja California’s Secretary of Economy and Innovation.
“We’re not focused on what’s going to be invested in Texas; we’re focused on the plant in Baja California. Toyota continues to work, continues to operate, and continues to manufacture its Tacoma,” Honold said.
The state’s strategy is to support the company in exploring the possibility of assembling other models at its Tijuana plant to supply the western United States. “What we’re exploring with them is how we can help them expand into other production lines,” Honold reiterated, stressing that the announcement concerns the relocation of the Tacoma production line and does not mean the plant will close.
The relocation is driven by the tariff environment, as U.S. trade policies have affected the automotive supply chain and contributed to a downturn in the auto parts industry.
The impact extends beyond Baja California. “That is why the automotive corridor—which runs through Aguascalientes, Querétaro, the State of Mexico, Nuevo León, and Chihuahua—has been affected by the auto parts industry,” Honold said.
Against this backdrop, negotiations between Baja California and Toyota have taken on greater significance, as the state seeks to secure the Tijuana plant’s operations beyond 2030 by attracting new assembly lines amid tariff-related changes to North American automotive production.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor North America is investing US$3.6 billion in its San Antonio plant. The investment includes a second assembly line scheduled to begin operations in 2030, creating more than 2,000 jobs and increasing annual production capacity by approximately 150,000 vehicles.
