Turning Young Car Tinkerers into Advanced Automobile Technicians, Toyota Donates 45 Engines to Area Tech Schools in North Alabama

April 15, 2016 by Toyota

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., (April 15, 2016) -- High school technical schools in six counties recently got a lot of 'educational horsepower' delivered as Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama donated 45 engines manufactured at its Huntsville plant. The donated V6 engines were built on Toyota Alabama's newest production line.

The announcement was made at the quarterly meeting of the Northeast Alabama Workforce Development Council, (Region 2) Inc. that is comprised of Madison, Morgan, Marshall, Limestone, Cullman, Jackson and DeKalb counties. The NAWDC is one of 10 throughout the state of Alabama that focuses on providing a direct link to the workforce needs of business and industry at the local level through strategic support for economic, education and job development activities.

'We believe it's our responsibility to partner with educators to support career readiness programs that help develop our future workforce,' said Jim Bolte, Toyota Alabama president. 'The gathering of the Workforce Council seemed like the perfect occasion to announce the donation of these engines. Toyota, just like members of this Council, is very interested and committed to developing career opportunities for students in the region.'

Students enrolled in automotive programs in Madison, Limestone, Morgan, Marshall, DeKalb and Cullman Counties will now have engines with the latest technology to provide hands-on learning. The donated engines, labeled as 'trial' engines, are built to teach Toyota team members the proper processes applied in manufacturing engines that will go into customer vehicles. Students will now be able to learn on those same engines, increasing their skills and hopefully their interest in the automotive manufacturing industry.

'We are so thankful to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama for donating engines to our students at the Madison County Career Technical Center. This is the perfect example of how the industry-education partnership should work. We know that our students will learn so much from working with these engines, and I'm confident that Toyota will see the benefits of our career-ready graduates in the coming years, ' said Michael Romine, Madison County Career Technical Center Director.

On hand to applaud the announcement were representatives from the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, 50 members of the Regional Workforce Council, and Ed Castile, Deputy Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.

'Toyota's gift of these engines, again, demonstrates why they are among the best car companies in the world and one of Alabama's finest corporate partners. Congratulations to Mr. Jim Bolte and the entire Toyota Alabama team for their hard work and contributions to the Alabama and Tennessee Valley economy. They recognize the importance of education and they also know what it takes to build a sustainable workforce,' said Ed Castile, Deputy Secretary at Alabama Department of Commerce.

'The State of Alabama appreciates Toyota's, leadership, partnership and friendship as very valued industry partners.'

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About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 30 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 44,000 people (more than 34,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.5 million in the U.S.) in 2015 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.