Toyota Plans Major Expansion at Five U.S. Manufacturing Hubs

Toyota plans a $373.8 million investment in five U.S. manufacturing plants that will support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain and to implement its New Global Architecture at its plant in Alabama.

The investments will include adding new production of hybrid transaxles (hybrid vehicle transmissions) at the Buffalo, West Virginia, manufacturing facility for $115,300,000; expanding 2.5-liter engine capacity at the Georgetown, Kentucky plant amounting to $120,960,000; increasing production of 2.5-liter cylinder heads at Bodine Aluminum’s Troy, Missouri plant for $17,050,000; and modifying the Bodine Jackson, Tennessee plant to accommodate production of hybrid transaxle cases and housings and 2.5-liter engine blocks for $14,500,000. The Huntsville, Alabama, plant will undergo a comprehensive upgrade to enable it to build engines that complement TNGA amounting to $106,000,000.

Each of the projects is scheduled to begin this year and all should be operational by 2020.

“This investment is part of our long-term commitment to build more vehicles and components in the markets in which we sell them,” said Jim Lentz, CEO, Toyota Motor North America. “This strategy is designed to better serve our customers and dealers, and positions our manufacturing operations to fulfill their needs well into the future.”

The 2.5-liter engines manufactured in Kentucky and transaxles made in West Virginia will be used in hybrid vehicles built in North America such as the Highlander Hybrid manufactured in Princeton, Indiana.

According to company officials, fifty new jobs will be created because of the investment at the Alabama plant. There will be no net gain of jobs at the Kentucky, West Virginia, or Bodine Aluminum facilities, but these investments will help to ensure the stability of the plants’ employment levels in the future.

“This investment across five American plants expands capacity for our latest TNGA engines, and localizes production of hybrid powertrains, a core Toyota technology,” said Jeff Moore, Senior Vice President for Manufacturing. “It underscores Toyota’s confidence in the capability and global competitiveness of our North American manufacturing.”

These projects, and others previously announced, move Toyota nearly halfway ($4.1 billion) toward its commitment to invest $10 billion in the U.S. as announced by CEO Akio Toyoda in January 2017.