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Toyota prices fuel cell sedan $70K in Japan, coming to US and Europe next summer [w/video]

Toyota has finally unveiled its FCV hydrogen fuel cell sedan and its Japanese price. We won't have to wait too long to see the first of these revolutionary vehicles on the roads. It will go on sale in Japan in April 2015 and will come to the US and Europe later that summer.
In Japan, the FCV will be priced at roughly 7 million yen before taxes ($68,810 at current exchange rates). However, Toyota makes it clear in the press release that we shouldn't try to extrapolate US MSRP from that figure, saying that official pricing for the US and Europe has not yet been determined. As will be the case in the US, sales in Japan will be limited to parts of the country that already have a hydrogen refueling infrastructure (that means you, California).
The production version of the FCV looks almost identical to the concept from last year's Tokyo Motor Show. There is a new vertical strip of LEDs at each corner of the front air intake and real sideview windows, instead of the nubs on the prototype. The weird squiggles from the rear trim are also gone in favor of a more production-ready look, but the taillights survive the changes mostly intact.

Toyota and Mazda invest another $830 million into Alabama crossover plant

The joint-venture car factory Mazda and Toyota are building in Alabama just got more expensive. The two companies agreed to invest another $830 million into the factory, bringing total cost up from the initial $1.6 billion to about $2.3 billion. In their press release, the companies noted that the money is going to improve production processes and accommodations for design changes to vehicles built there. The companies announced the factory back in January 2018. Both companies will build a crossover model. Details are scant, but we know they're both new models that haven't been announced or teased yet. Mazda's crossover will be a North American-specific model that should go into production in 2021. Toyota initially planned to build Corollas at the plant, but changed course to a crossover a little later. The factory will be able to produce as many as 300,000 cars a year, divided equally between Mazda and Toyota for 150,000 apiece. The companies plan to hire around 4,000 people to work there, and 600 have already been hired. Applications for production jobs will be accepted later this year, and there aren't any mentions about major delays from the pandemic, so we expect Mazda's production targets haven't really changed. Related Video:     Plants/Manufacturing Mazda Toyota Crossover

North American production of foreign marques to jump in 2014

Wards Auto has released its North American Light Vehicle Production Forecast for 2014, and the report predicts foreign manufacturers will increase production on the continent some 3.9 percent by 2014. If accurate, that should see 123,000 additional cars, trucks and vans produced in North America, swelling the total number of units produced both by domestic and foreign manufacturers to 16.9 million light vehicles from a projected 15.6 million in 2013. Much of the increase can be attributed to the fact that Toyota intends to produce another car at its Blue Springs, MS plant as well as a new Lexus model at its Georgetown, KY facility in a year's time.
Likewise, Volkswagen intends to move production of a currently imported model to its plant in Puebla, Mexico. Daimler, Honda, Nissan and Mazda also plan to build additional models on North American soil for the first time. Around two-thirds of the new North American manufacturing will take place in Mexico, helping the country soak up a full 20 percent of the content's automotive production for the first time. You can head over to the Wards Auto site for the full report.