Toyota is pouring more than $900 million into its U.S. manufacturing footprint to boost hybrid production, including a major expansion at its flagship Kentucky plant. The investment is part of the automaker’s plan to spend up to $10 billion nationwide over the next five years as demand for hybrid vehicles accelerates.
In Georgetown, Toyota will invest $204.4 million and add 82 jobs to install a new machining line for 4-cylinder hybrid-compatible engines. The company expects the line to come online in 2027. Toyota Kentucky, the company’s largest plant in the world, employs nearly 10,000 people and represents more than $11 billion in cumulative investment.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear praised the announcement. “I want to thank Toyota for once again investing in our people and the company’s largest global manufacturing facility in Georgetown,” he said. “The Kentucky-Toyota partnership has driven decades of success, and I am proud to see that relationship grow even stronger.”
The Kentucky expansion is one piece of a $912 million multistate package covering plants in West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Missouri. In total, Toyota will add 252 jobs to expand hybrid engine and component production and begin assembling hybrid-electric Corollas in the U.S. for the first time.
“Customers are embracing Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, and our U.S. manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand,” said Kevin Voelkel, senior vice president of manufacturing operations. “Toyota’s philosophy is to build where we sell, and by adding more American jobs and investing across our U.S. footprint, we continue to stay true to that philosophy.”
With electrified vehicles now accounting for nearly half of Toyota’s U.S. sales, the company continues to expand hybrid capacity across its North American network as it moves toward a broader mobility strategy.