Dive Brief:
- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to invest $1.3 billion in its Kentucky assembly plant for future electric vehicle production, the automaker announced Tuesday.
- The automaker plans to add a battery pack assembly line to the facility. Toyota’s forthcoming battery cell manufacturing facility in North Carolina will supply the batteries.
- The new investment is part of Toyota’s nearly $10 billion commitment to upgrade the facility to build EVs, including a new three-row electric SUV for the U.S. market slated for production in 2025.
Dive Insight:
Since 2021, Toyota has invested around $17 billion in its U.S. manufacturing operations to support vehicle electrification. The company doubled down on its electrification efforts last March by shifting more than half its research and development staff and budgets to accelerate its work on advanced battery technologies, electrification and software-based vehicles.
“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.
In October, Toyota announced plans to invest an additional $8 billion in its EV battery manufacturing plant in Liberty, North Carolina, to support the production of 1.2 million EVs a year for the North American market. The plant is expected to start battery cell production in 2025.
Toyota plans to invest more than $70 billion in electrification by 2030, with hybrid and fully electric models accounting for up to 70% of the company’s U.S. sales by 2030.
By 2025, Toyota plans to launch an electrified version of every Toyota and Lexus model it sells globally. In the interim, Toyota aims to produce 190,000 battery-powered vehicles in 2024 as it prepares to execute its long-term electrification plans.
