TOKYO, (May 31, 2005) — Toyota Motor Corp. has apparently given the green light to building a $463 million car assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont. by 2008, reports the Nihon Keizai business daily.

The plant would be the automakers’ second in Canada, and seventh in North America, and could eventually double production for Toyota in this country.

Last month, the Globe and Mail reported that the world’s second largest automaker was staking out a 1,000-acre plot of land near Woodstock, Ont. for possibility a new car assembly plant. The land is near Hwy. 401 and Hwy. 2 in Oxford County, just 30 minutes away from its existing operations in Cambridge, Ont.

The Nihon Keizai states that Toyota had seriously considered building the plant in the U.S. but settled for Canada because of lower labour and production costs.

The news comes as the Big Three automakers are in the process of cutting production on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. Toyota instead, is aggressively expanding across the globe. The company recently announced plans to build new factories in Russia, Indonesia, and is reported to be considering a new plant in China as well.

The paper says Toyota hasn’t quit eyeing U.S. sites, however, suggesting the company is investigating the U.S. or Mexico for the site of its eighth plant, which could begin construction in 2010.

By the time the plant begins operations, says The Nihon Keizai, Toyota’s total manufacturing capacity in North America will have increased to about 2.5 million units a year, about 1 million more than last year.

There is one stumbling block, however. Canadian Press reports that negotiations aren’t finalized with a mall owner and golf course operator over land Oxford County wants to buy to make available for industrial use. CP says the mall owner has rejected an offer of roughly $2 million for the land, and is asking for about $10 million more than that.

— from Nihon Keizai, and files from Canadian Press