It was an event rich in promise and prosperity, the moment when the gigantic automobile manufacturing plant worth more than $1 billion – with a “b” – was becoming a reality.

The ceremony on a cool Friday morning in a heated tent in rural Limestone County brimmed with excitement, the formal groundbreaking ceremony of the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA plant featuring speeches by a U.S. senator and a governor.

Once the ceremony ended, though, there was still nothing more than hundreds of acres of muddy land prepped for the plant and no buildings yet built.

“I wish we could begin production tomorrow,” said Masahi Aihara, president of Mazda Toyota Manufacturing. “But I understand we have a little bit of work to do before we can begin production … just a little bit.”

Indeed, the executive who will oversee the $1.6 billion plant spoke perhaps the most sobering words of the jubilant occasion.

“So with this groundbreaking, let’s get started,” he said.

It’s been more than 10 months since the formal announcement that Mazda Toyota – after a much-hyped national search – had chosen a patch of rural farmland in Limestone County that had previously been annexed into the city of Huntsville.

The project promises 4,000 new jobs and the expectation that between suppliers and other surrounding development, an estimated 10,000 jobs will emerge altogether.

No wonder U.S. Sen. Doug Jones opened his remarks by turning to the four Japanese auto executives on stage.

“I was going to say distinguished guests from Mazda and Toyota,” Jones said. “But you’re no longer guests, folks. You’re family. You’re a family here and we appreciate anybody that, in their initial statement, invokes ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’”

That would be Kiyotaka Shobuda, senior managing executive officer of Mazda Motor Corporation.

The first speaker of the event seized on the Lynyrd Skynyrd song that the state of Alabama has all but adopted as its official anthem.

“For automakers like us, a plant feels like home, sweet home,” Shobuda said. “Or, in case case, I should say ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’”

That tune also provided the soundtrack to a most unusual groundbreaking – not one featuring politicians in hard hats and gold-colored shovels but rather a robot that did the digging itself.

The plant will feature two lines – one manufacturing a Toyota Corolla, the other a yet-to-be-revealed Mazda crossover SUV. It’s a first-of-its-kind project, bringing competing automakers under a single roof to share expenses and make their vehicles.

“Make no mistake, we will not just be building cars and SUVs here in Huntsville -- we are building opportunities,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said.

It’s those opportunities that will ripple across north Alabama and southern Tennessee – the state line less than 30 miles from the plant site -- to rally a massive workforce to roll the first vehicles off the assembly line in 2021.

“This is a special day for both Mazda and Toyota and, indeed, this is a very special day for the entire state of Alabama,” Gov. Kay Ivey said.

The groundbreaking marked a midpoint in what Battle described as a success story. A development like the Mazda Toyota auto plant was long the vision of Huntsville officials as it secured the remote land and prepared it for business by earning designation as a TVA Mega Site in June 2016.

Less than three years later, the groundbreaking took place.

“Just a few months ago, this was a cotton field,” Battle said. “Today, we break ground. In two years, we will cut the ribbon on this plant. While we are celebrating today, tomorrow and all the days following, we are here to make Mazda Toyota Manufacturing a success.”

For Mazda, sweet home Alabama, as Shobuda said, is a new venture. For Toyota, home has been sweet in Alabama for decades.

“Seventeen years ago,” Toyota began its partnership with Alabama by putting down roots in Huntsville when we broke ground for our engine plant,” said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota Motor North America.

That motor plant has expanded four times, seen employment grow from 300 to 1,400 and a total investment of $1 billion.

“We have invested heavily in this state and, as true partners, you have also invested heavily in us,” Lentz said.

So with a robotic beginning, the work can now begin to bring a giant auto plant out of the cotton fields.

“As we break ground today, we’re not only marking the beginning of Mazda Toyota, we also are beginning a new chapter here in Alabama,” Ivey said. “When we talk about building on success and momentum, this is how it’s done.

“We’ve provided companies with our unparalleled work force, we’ve created and provide a very positive business climate. When companies choose to come to Alabama, to be made in Alabama, they want to and certainly can expect excellence.”

All with background music from Lynyrd Skynyrd.