Toyota Motor Corporation has announced a $US373.8m spend across five of its US factories to produce its first American made hybrid powertrain and to “implement” its New Global Architecture (TNGA) at an Alabama plant.
Each project is scheduled to begin this year and all should be operational by 2020, the automaker said.
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The spend will include projects such as adding new production of hybrid transaxles (hybrid vehicle transmissions) at the Buffalo, West Virginia, factory; expanding 2.5 litre petrol engine capacity at Georgetown, Kentucky [this engine is used in several hybrid powertrains Toyota currently offers in North America – ed]; increasing production of the 2.5 litre’s cylinder heads at Bodine Aluminum’s Troy, Missouri, plant; and modifying the Bodine Jackson, Tennessee, plant to accommodate production of hybrid transaxle cases and housings and 2.5 litre engine blocks.
The Huntsville, Alabama, plant will undergo a comprehensive upgrade to enable it to build engines that “complement” TNGA.
“This investment is part of our long term commitment to build more vehicles and components in the markets in which we sell them,” said Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) CEO Jim Lentz. “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 litre engines manufactured in Kentucky and transaxles made in West Virginia will be used in hybrid vehicles built in North America such as the Highlander [Kruger] SUV made in Princeton, Indiana. Toyota claims to be the world leader in petrol electric hybrids, after 3m sales in the US and 10m globally to date.
Fifty new jobs will be created because of the investment in Alabama. There will, however, be no net gain of jobs at the Kentucky, West Virginia, or Bodine Aluminum facilities but, the automaker said, “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 localises production of hybrid powertrains, a core Toyota technology,” said TMNA manufacturing chief Jeff Moore. “It underscores Toyota’s confidence in the capability and global competitiveness of our North American manufacturing.”
The total investment of $373.8m will be distributed across the plants like this:
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky – $120,960,000
- Bodine Aluminum Jackson, Tennessee – $14,500,000
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia – $115,300,000
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama – $106,000,000
- Bodine Aluminum Troy, Missouri – $17,050,000
Toyota noted these projects, and others previously announced, move it nearly half way ($4.1bn) toward its commitment to spend $10bn in the US, as announced by Toyota Motor Corporation CEO Akio Toyoda last January.
