Toyota to Resume Construction of Mississippi PlantBy NICK BUNKLEYDETROIT — Toyota said Thursday that it would resume construction of a Mississippi plant that had been put on hold 18 months ago because of the recession. And in another sign that auto sales have improved dramatically, General Motors said it would skip the annual summer shutdown at all but two of its United States plants to keep up with demand. Toyota said its $1.3 billion plant in Blue Spring, Miss., was scheduled to begin building Corolla compact cars, not sport utility vehicles or hybrid cars as previously planned, in the fall of 2011. Toyota said it would hire 2,000 people, the same number of jobs it originally planned to create at the plant, which is 90 miles southeast of Memphis Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi was scheduled to meet company executives on Thursday at the plant, which was 90 percent finished in December 2008 when Toyota halted the project amid plunging sales nationwide. “Toyota appreciates the patience of Governor Barbour and all Mississippians, but we first needed to fully utilize our existing facilities as the economy slowed,” Yoshimi Inaba, the president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, said in a statement. “Now it’s time to fulfill Toyota’s promise in Mississippi,” the statement said. “Toyota remains committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in North America.” G.M. said that operating 9 of its 11 United States assembly plants for two extra weeks would allow it to build 56,000 additional vehicles. Some temporary workers might be hired. The Detroit automakers have traditionally shut…
Revenge of the TV WritersAnnoy a television writer at your peril: You could wind up committing unspeakable crimes or dying a horrible death—in prime time. Settling scores with difficult stars, clueless executives and childhood enemies.Read Article
Iran is waging a secret campaign to arm, train and fund the Taliban-led insurgency against Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to American military reports.
