Area Development
Toyota will re-start construction of its Mississippi plant that will build its Corolla model, Agence France-Presse reports. The automaker shut the plant when the North American car market suffered steep declines.

"Toyota remains committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in North America," said Yoshimi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America.

Production should begin at the facility by the second half of 2011, and employ 2,000 people. Once production starts again, almost all Corolla vehicles sold in North America will have been produced domestically. After the plant closure, some of the vehicles had been built in Japan.

Prior to stopping construction, Toyota had invested $300 million in the facility.