Toyota Invests $3.6 Billion to Relocate Tacoma Production to Texas
N.R. Finch
Toyota announced a $3.6 billion investment to shift production of its mid-size Tacoma pickup from Mexico to San Antonio, Texas, with completion expected by 2030. The move directly responds to up to 25% U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports and will reshape the American pickup production landscape.
Where does the $3.6 billion go?
San Antonio will gain a second full-vehicle assembly line, lifting annual capacity from roughly 200,000 to 350,000 units.
Plant floor space nearly doubles — from about 2.7 million to roughly 5 million square feet.
The expansion adds roughly 2,000 jobs, bringing total headcount to about 6,000.
New capacity ramps over four years starting in 2030; the expansion is reportedly twice the size previously expected.
Why move the production line back to the U.S.?
The core driver is tariffs: cars imported from Mexico face up to 25% U.S. duties. Tacoma, assembled in Mexico with non-U.S. parts, is directly exposed.
This means → tariffs are not just a line-item cost — they have already eroded real profit. Toyota's North American division saw operating profit fall by roughly ¥1.38 trillion (about $8.5 billion) in the fiscal year ending March, pushing the region into a loss.
The investment is part of Toyota's broader commitment to spend an additional $10 billion in the United States.
What happens to the Mexican plants?
Tacoma is currently built at two Mexican sites: a plant near Tijuana, Baja California, and a plant in Guanajuato.
Tijuana's Tacoma capacity will shift to San Antonio over four years; the Guanajuato plant will keep building Tacomas for U.S. export.
Tijuana produced roughly 166,000 Tacomas last year, but what it will build after the transfer remains undecided.
In plain terms = Toyota says it will "maintain operations in Mexico," but the Tijuana plant's future is still an open question.
What does this mean for the U.S. pickup market?
Tacoma is the long-running leader in mid-size U.S. pickups, outselling the Ford Ranger and Chevrolet Colorado by a wide margin.
Toyota's U.S. sales rose 0.5% in the first half of this year to 1.24 million units; GM fell 6.8% to 1.34 million over the same period — the gap is narrowing.
This means → as Tacoma's domestic capacity expands and tariff costs drop, whether Toyota can further close the gap with GM becomes a key watch point for the market.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.