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BUFFALO, West Virginia (AP) – Toyota Motor Corp. Thursday announced an additional $ 750 million investment in five US plants, which will generate nearly 600 new jobs, including the production of two hybrid vehicles for the first time at its Kentucky facility.
It marks a new expansion of the American presence of the Japanese manufacturer, bringing to nearly $ 13 billion the amount it will spend by 2021.
The latest investments were made in facilities in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia. These same facilities were part of a 2017 announcement by Toyota regarding a $ 374 million investment to support the production of its first US-made hybrid powertrain.
President Donald Trump congratulated Toyota on Twitter and tried to link this announcement to his trade efforts.
Referring to an agreement with Canada and Mexico to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, Trump said: "Great news for American auto workers! The USMCA is already repairing the broken deal with NAFTA. "
The revised version of the NAFTA negotiated by the Trump administration, seen by many as a modest overhaul of the original agreement, has not been approved by Congress.
The President has made no mention of the recent closure of a Chevrolet Cruze plant in Ohio, the first of five North American plants that GM intends to close down. here the beginning of next year.
Toyota Motor North America's chief executive, Chris Reynolds, said the investments were a further example of the company's long-term commitment to build where it sells, regardless of the uncertainty of trade customs fees.
"Our basic manufacturing principle is that if we can sell it here, we have to do it here." This was true before any pricing uncertainty, that is true during pricing uncertainty and it will be true afterwards. Investment cycles go beyond any particular political cycle, "he said during a conference call with reporters.
Toyota Motor North America's CEO, Jim Lentz, said the driving force behind the overall investment was "the insatiable appetite" of consumers for light trucks over pbadenger cars, evoking Highlander productions and RAV4 and the previous production of vans.
"But I would be hypocritical if I did not say that we also have an eye on the trade," said Lentz. "USMCA is one of them, but the decisions we make today are largely dictated by consumers and our product portfolio."
The automaker allocates additional investments between multiple plants.
Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky facility will receive a $ 238 million injection to produce hybrid versions of Lexus ES 300 sedans from May and the RAV4 SUV from January 2020, the company said.
The production of RAV4 does not mark an abandonment of the production of sedans of the vast factory of Kentucky, declared leaders of Toyota. Rather, it reflects Toyota's plan to build multiple vehicles in its plants to better isolate each facility from recessions in market cycles.
"Unlike some of our competitors, we think the sedan market is valuable, although it may not be as important as it was," Reynolds said.
The announcement also includes $ 288 million to increase the annual engine capacity of Toyota's facilities in Huntsville, Alabama. The plant will create 450 additional jobs to accommodate new production lines of four-cylinder engines and V6. Last year, Toyota and Mazda announced plans to build a $ 1.6 billion joint venture in Huntsville, which will eventually employ approximately 4,000 people.
Toyota is also spending $ 62 million on equipment to increase the production of Toyota and Lexus cylinder heads at its Bodine Aluminum plant in Troy, Missouri, as part of its new global economic architecture production strategy to share common parts and components between different vehicles.
A $ 50 million expansion and equipment upgrade at a Bodine plant in Jackson, Tennessee, will create 13 jobs and produce powerheads while doubling the capacity of hybrid box and package boxes hybrids.
And Toyota will create 123 jobs and spend $ 111 million to expand its plant and buy equipment in Buffalo, West Virginia, to double the capacity of its hybrid transax.
Previously, Toyota had also announced a $ 600 million investment in its Princeton, Indiana, plant to increase the capacity of its Highlander SUV and integrate the new production strategy, as well as $ 170 million for the launch of the Corolla 2020 on a new production line in Blue Springs, Mississippi.
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Author AP, Bruce Schreiner, has told from Frankfort, Kentucky.
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