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Toyota Motor Corp. is moving ahead with a planned production phase out of its Lexus ES and ES hybrid sedans at its Georgetown, Kentucky plant this year, a company spokesperson told Automotive Dive.
The automaker previously announced the move in October 2021 as part of a broader strategy to transform the factory to produce new products, including electric vehicles. Toyota in February 2024 announced a $1.3B investment in the Kentucky plant to prepare the site to produce a new three-row battery electric SUV, though the spokesperson did not say whether a new vehicle would replace the Lexus ES sedans on the facility’s assembly lines.
The massive 9 million square foot factory will continue producing the Camry hybrid and RAV4 hybrid models, the spokesperson said. Once the Lexus ES ends its U.S. production run, Toyota’s factory in Princeton, Indiana, where it manufactures the full-size Lexus TX SUV, will be its only U.S. location where it builds vehicles for the luxury brand.
Production of the Lexus ES and ES hybrids will shift to Japan before the end of 2025, the spokesperson said. Toyota’s Kentucky factory is its largest global manufacturing facility and has been producing the Lexus ES since 2015.
Toyota’s decision to end Lexus ES production in Kentucky was made long before tariffs rocked the automotive industry, leading to a wave of production shifts by automakers to curtail higher duties on vehicles, raw materials and parts produced overseas. For Japan-based automakers, a new deal reached between Japan and the Trump administration placed a 15% tariff on vehicles and automotive parts deemed products of Japan, which is lower than a previously announced 25% section 232 tariff.
Ending Lexus ES production in Kentucky will not impact jobs at the plant, the spokesperson said. Toyota employs more than 9,400 people at the facility.
AloJapan.com