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Lexus plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, USA Monday October 5, 2015 Photo by Joseph Rey Au
Lexus pant in Georgetown, Kentucky. Photo provided.
The first Lexus produced in the United States has rolled off the assembly line at Toyota’s massive automobile plant in Georgetown.
Company officials and plant workers celebrated Monday as the first ES 350 was unveiled at the the sprawling Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky campus.
“Localizing Lexus production is in line with our North American production strategy, and is rooted in our philosophy of building cars where we sell them,” Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said in a statement.
Toyota says it invested $360 million to build the dedicated Lexus assembly line, which will produce as many as 50,000 vehicles annually. The added line also brought 750 additional jobs to the plant, officials said.
Officials peg the plant’s total capacity at more than 550,000 vehicles a year, primarily the Camry model. Toyota says more than 7,500 are employed at the Georgetown plant.
The Lexus milestone was hailed by Gov. Steve Beshear.
“This is an important day for the Commonwealth,” he said in a statement. “For Lexus to have the confidence in our Kentucky workforce to build this magnificent car speaks volumes.”