Automotive giant eyes San Antonio for major vehicle production facility

A major international automotive manufacturer has officially filed paperwork today to construct a $2 billion vehicle manufacturing plant in San Antonio. Construction is slated to begin later this year. 

Toyota Motor Corp. is seeking approval from the state and local governments to expand its U.S. footprint with a new Texas-based facility, dubbed “Project Orca”. The plan for the new production assembly line would expand the company’s San Antonio real estate and production, which currently includes production of two trucks, the Tundra and Sequioa. 

The new site would be located in Bexar County nearby the company’s existing truck assembly plant in San Antonio. With construction beginning this year, project officials anticipate the facility to be completed in 2029, with initial operations starting in 2030.  

Estimates included in the filing show the development could bring as many as 2,000 new jobs to San Antonio, through a combination of permanent and temporary positions.   

While Toyota has not confirmed which vehicle would be produced on the new line, the scale of the expansion has prompted speculation that the company could bring some Tacoma production back to Texas. Tacoma production previously shifted from Texas to Mexico in 2021. The report also links the potential expansion to broader pressures on automakers to adjust supply chains and increase U.S. manufacturing capacity amid changing trade policies. 

The move comes in response to the Trump Administration’s imposed tariffs in 2025, in which the Japan-based company committed to invest $10 billion in domestic projects to expand production in the United States.  

Other automakers have made similar commitments in light of Trump’s tariffs, signaling a continuing trend of certain industries reshoring manufacturing and production to the United States. 

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