Sean Suggs is the president of Toyota North America Battery Manufacturing in Liberty, North Carolina. He spoke to a standing-room only audience during the 2022 Rainbow PUSH Global Automotive Summit on Monday, Nov. 14, where he spoke about the future of the auto industry, Toyota’s new battery plant in NC and more. The annual summit was held at the Motor City Casino in Detroit and serves as the backdrop for the world’s leading global automotive manufacturers to discuss strengthening and creating opportunities for people of color at every level of the industry.
Rolling out spoke exclusively with Suggs about his new role, the new North Carolina battery plant, and what erecting a massive manufacturing facility in NC means for people of color in the immediate community.
Describe your responsibilities in your new role.
I’m responsible for the start of construction, all the way to the start of production in 2025. All the nuts and bolts and stuff that we do, I’m responsible for that. My key goal is to empower my team to make a change.
Tell us about some of the new and exciting things you have going on at the North Carolina battery plant.
With Toyota, our portfolio of electrification is big. It goes from hybrid to plug-in hybrid, to electric vehicles and fuel cells. What we’re really excited about in addition to that is this new North Carolina battery plant. We’re going to build electrification vehicles for hybrid, and electric vehicles, which is going to be awesome. We’re going to start with 2,100 team members who sit on 1,800 acres and the communities around North Carolina have been amazing, welcoming us right at a $3 billion investment. We’re walking the walk, and we know what the journey is.
What does this mean for the surrounding community and people of color?
Where we’re going to be is called the Triad. So Liberty, North Carolina is 50 miles from Raleigh and 65 miles from Charlotte. It puts us in a really good location where the population is good, but also where a diverse population is good. North Carolina A&T is in our backyard. It has 13,000 students and is one of the best engineering schools in the country, so we’re really excited about that.
