Toyota Motor North America announced today that it will invest $1.3 billion in its Georgetown, Kentucky, manufacturing facility to produce electric vehicles and batteries.
The investment will go toward assembly of a new electric SUV model for the U.S. market and a battery pack assembly line for components manufactured at Toyota’s battery facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. The new EV model will have three rows of seating.
Toyota Kentucky is the automaker’s largest manufacturing site, with nearly 9,400 employees. Opened in 1988, it was the first U.S. auto plant to manufacture hybrid vehicles, beginning in 2006. It currently has capacity to manufacture a maximum 550,000 vehicles per year, including the Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, Camry, Camry Hybrid and the Lexus ES 350 models. The next generation of the Camry, the 2025 model that goes into production this spring, will only be available as a hybrid.
“Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to vehicle electrification and further reinvesting in our U.S. operations,” Kerry Creech, president of Toyota Kentucky, said in a statement.
Toyota has invested nearly $10 billion in its Kentucky operations since 2021. The automaker currently has two EV models on the market in the United States--the Toyota bZ4X and the Lexus RZ 4503--both manufactured in Japan.
Toyota has 13 manufacturing plants in the U.S., and an additional joint venture plant with Mazda in Alabama.
