Toyota to build shop in North Carolina
Toyota plans to build an engineering and chassis facility in close proximity to its NASCAR teams.
The facility would employ about 40 people and sit on part of an 89-acre site in Salisbury, N.C., said Toyota Racing Development CEO Jim Aust. The company unveiled its plan to Rowan County (N.C.) leaders on Monday night.
The Salisbury facility will not be completed for a couple of years, Aust said.
Toyota Racing Development has about 25 people working in a facility in nearby High Point, N.C., near Bill Davis Racing. Those employees would move to the Salisbury facility, which will employ about 40 people.
TRD's base facility is in California, but it wanted a major presence in North Carolina, Aust said. The shop wouldn't be used for engine development but would be a place for Toyota engineers and teams to work on chassis design, shocks and other things.
"The work that we do here can be dispersed to the teams in a quicker manner," Aust said. "Our hope is we would be able to put some pieces of equipment in the facility that the teams don't have access to [without renting]."
