Image source: Cars.usnews
Toyota Motor Corp. will invest $1.4 billion in an Indiana plant to manufacture and sell more electric vehicles in the United States, marking the Japanese automaker’s second such announcement this year.
The Princeton, Indiana, facility, which now makes four gas and hybrid models, will add an unnamed all-electric, three-row SUV to its lineup, the firm announced Thursday in a statement. It comes after Toyota announced plans in February to invest $1.3 billion in a Kentucky factory to build a different three-row, completely electric SUV.
The two vehicles will use lithium-ion batteries provided by the automaker’s new plant in North Carolina, which is scheduled to begin production in 2025.
Toyota has been slower than other major automakers to adopt EVs, choosing to spread its bets by selling popular hybrid gas-electric vehicles. The decision to manufacture EVs in the United States is part of the company’s attempts to stay compliant with tougher US emissions standards. Toyota also wants to remain competitive with rivals’ EVs, which benefit from US government subsidies that encourage local production.
The Lexus RZ 450e and bZ4X, the automaker’s two EV models that are currently available in the US, are both manufactured in Japan. While hybrids made up around 29% of Toyota’s US sales last year, EV deliveries have been tepid due to a global decrease in demand. The automaker didn’t help itself by failing with the bZ4X rollout: the vehicle was briefly removed from the market after its launch in 2022 owing to a defect that may cause its wheels to fall off.