Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama’s economic footprint continues to skyrocket, with the sixth production expansion in North Alabama.

Toyota Alabama announced the start of production on its i-FORCE 2.4-liter turbo engine line for the all-new Tacoma. Powered by a previous investment of $222 million, the new production line aims at fulfilling customer demand and company goals.

“The completion of the i-FORCE 2.4-liter turbo engine line marks a significant milestone for Toyota Alabama and further supports job stability for our 2,000 employees,” said Jason Puckett, president of Toyota Alabama. “Now, with Tacoma offering a hybrid option, every line at our plant includes engines for hybrid vehicles. It’s our team and their skills that have paved the way for this plant to play a critical role in Toyota’s efficient and electrified future.”

Globally, Toyota continues to go big in its commitment to carbon-reducing and carbon-neutral products, with plans to invest more than $70 billion in vehicle electrification through 2030.

The i-FORCE 2.4-liter turbo engine line marks the plant’s sixth building expansion and brings Toyota Alabama’s total investment to $1.5 billion. In 2023, the plant achieved record production, assembling more than 777,000 engines for Toyota vehicles manufactured in North America. The plant produces four cylinder and six-cylinder engines for popular Toyota vehicles such as the Tundra, Sequoia, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Tacoma, Highlander, Sienna and RAV4.

The new production line comes on the heals of two major initiatives that Toyota announced last year.

These initiatives included a $49 million solar array, in partnership with Huntsville Utilities and Toyota Tsusho, to supply more than 70 percent of Toyota Alabama’s energy needs when completed and community grants of up to $6.7 million.

The community grants are aimed at helping prepare Huntsville City Schools’ students for future careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The grants are part of Toyota USA Foundation’s Driving Possibilities initiative and will fund a five-year phased rollout of programming in select schools.