Toyota Motor Corporation announced on Tuesday that it will invest $912 million in five states in the United States to increase the production of its hybrid vehicles and create 252 new job opportunities in the American manufacturing industry.
According to the press release issued by Toyota, to meet the growing demand for hybrid cars, the company will expand its production scale in the United States once again. As part of its recent commitment to invest up to $10 billion in the US over the next five years, Toyota revealed that it will invest a total of $912 million in five factories to increase the production capacity of hybrid models and include the hybrid version of Corolla in its US product lineup.
Toyota will be making investments in five factories in the US, including facilities in West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri.
The largest investment out of the five factories will be directed towards the engine plant in West Virginia, totaling $453 million. This plant annually assembles over a million engines, transmissions, and hybrid powertrains, with a total investment of $3.3 billion.
In addition, Toyota will expand its plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, to introduce a production line for hybrid Corolla, which will be the first electric Corolla model assembled in the United States. Currently, only gasoline versions of Corolla sedans are produced in the US.
The $912 million investment by Toyota in these five factories is expected to create 252 new manufacturing job positions across the five locations, mainly focused on expanding hybrid vehicle technology production. The new production lines are expected to start operating in 2027.
Kevin Voelkel, Executive Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations of Toyota, stated that, in response to consumer demand, Toyota’s US production team is actively preparing. He emphasized Toyota’s philosophy of “building where we sell,” by increasing local job opportunities in the US and investing across the nation.
Toyota mentioned in the press release that approximately half of the vehicles sold by Toyota in the US are assembled in the country, with more than three-quarters of vehicles sold in the US being assembled in North American factories, accounting for about 76%.
Toyota’s diversified powertrain strategy continues to drive the stable growth of electric vehicles, including hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars, and all-electric cars, which currently comprise nearly 50% of Toyota’s sales in the US.
Alivia Luikart, a member of Toyota’s West Virginia team, expressed confidence in the company’s abilities and trust in their team’s capability to drive Toyota’s advancement, which they find gratifying.
Earlier reports by Dajiyuan stated that, on November 12, amidst the official operation commencement of Toyota’s new $1.39 billion battery plant in North Carolina, the company announced an additional investment of up to $10 billion in the US over the next five years.
This marks the largest investment announced by a Japanese automaker since the start of President Trump’s second term. This will bring Toyota’s total investment in the US to nearly $60 billion since the company began operating in America almost 70 years ago.