TOKYO—Alabama and North Carolina are the final states in the running to win a prized Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. joint car factory worth $1.6 billion. A dozen states, including Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina, had been in contention.

SALAMANCA, Mexico—Mazda Motor Corp. has opened a $770 million assembly plant here, its first wholly owned plant in North America.

SALAMANCA, Mexico—Mazda is planning to invest $120 million to build an engine factory adjacent to its vehicle assembly plant here. The new facility will be able to produce 230,000 engines per year.

HOFU, Japan—Mazda has built a super-efficient assembly line here that rolls off vehicles at a stunning rate of one every 54 seconds.