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BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. — Toyota announced last week that it is resuming construction at its Mississippi plant and will soon hire 2,000 associates to build the Corolla in the fall of 2011.

Toyota had postponed finishing construction at the Mississippi facility when the economy tanked.

By building the Corolla at this facility, the automaker stressed that now almost all of these models will be built in North America. Some of the Corollas for North America have been built in Japan since April.

Originally, the plant had been designated to build a larger model and the Corollas were built, in part, at NUMMI, but that plant has since been closed since General Motors pulled out of the joint initiative with Toyota during its bankruptcy process.

"Toyota appreciates the patience of Gov. (Haley) Barbour and all Mississippians, but we first needed to fully utilize our existing facilities as the economy slowed. Now it's time to fulfill Toyota's promise in Mississippi," said Yoshimi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America.

"Toyota remains committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in North America," he added.

According to Toyota, the new plant is "essentially complete," with most of the remaining work involving the installation of equipment.

In fact, the automaker said the administration office on site already has 60 team members. Details on the hiring process to work at the plant will come later this summer, officials said.