Now ten years in the making, the NAFTA automotive corridor from Ontario to Mexico may finally be taking viable shape.
   Among Kentucky's supplier investments since July are a $15-million airbag inflator gas generant plant by Daicel Safety Technologies of America in Beaver Dam, located near the parent company's existing airbag inflator plant, which itself is undergoing a $39-million expansion that will grow employment from 189 to 350 by 2007. Other expansions in Kentucky include projects from NHK Spring Co. Ltd. and UGN.
   In Indiana, supplier growth in late 2005 included Vigo County Industrial Park expansions by steering column maker ThyssenKrupp Presta and Aisin Brake & Chassis, part of Toyota affiliate Aisin Seiki. Over in Wabash, GDX North America, a sealing systems manufacturer which had laid off significant numbers in recent years, pledged to increase employment by more than 35 percent to approximately 700 in 2007 with the ramping up of operations, a $3-million investment and the transfer of some production from Canada. The project will see more than $1 million in tax credits and training grants.
   Toyota, meanwhile, has been rumored to be looking for even more manufacturing capacity than its recent move to Woodstock, Ont., including the possibility of more production in Woodstock from its Hino subsidiary. The company has beefed up its engineering center in Michigan in 2005, and Hino has begun production at its Arkansas site near Memphis, next door to a large industrial site still on the market.
   December reports of an assembly agreement between Toyota and Fuji Heavy Industries' complex in Lafayette, Ind., were premature, says Victor Vanov of Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America. He confirms that the two companies' presidents met in Tokyo and agreed to study possible technical collaboration for vehicle development.
   However, Toyota has found Indiana to its liking, as it showed with the October announcement of a $6.2-million, 76,000-sq.-ft. (7,060-sq.-m.) expansion of its body weld shop at its Princeton plant.
   The main product of that plant — the Toyota Tundra pickup — also will be the main product of the company's new complex in San Antonio, Texas, when production starts up in late 2006. Already the suppliers have overshot expectations, as they expect to employ 2,100 — or about 600 more than estimated one year ago. Their investment total, meanwhile, is double the estimate, or $300 million.