That Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, will have its largest factory in the American South is only the latest example of a building boom in the United States by foreign automakers like Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and others. Domestic automakers, by contrast, have resisted building new plants in the United States even as they have announced billions in new investments in their existing production facilities.

Mercedes-Benz last year announced plans to expand its plant in Vance, Ala. And in March, the company’s van division said it would invest around half a billion dollars to build a new Sprinter van factory in North Charleston, S.C., with construction set to begin next year.

Even Volkswagen, reeling from its emissions cheating scandal and forced to consider cutbacks on investments across the globe, reaffirmed recently that it would move forward with a $600 million expansion in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Chattanooga factory is growing to build a new sport utility vehicle designed for the American market.

Domestic automakers have taken steps like adding shifts and hiring more workers at existing American plants, but building new ones and expanding facilities in the United States have mainly become the purview of Japanese and European automakers that are taking advantage of the lower shipping and trade costs, currency stability and largely nonunion work force that American factories provide.

“There’s a benefit to understanding what the market is here, as well, and simply coordinating your efforts on a day-to-day basis,” said Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com.