Toyota's $1 billion bet on Kentucky and Indiana plants

Toyota said Monday it was committing $1 billion to a pair of U.S. factories, with the bulk directed to its Georgetown, Kentucky plant — the automaker's largest vehicle manufacturing facility in the world.

The announcement allocates $800 million to the Kentucky plant and $200 million to a facility in Princeton, Indiana. The Kentucky funds are earmarked to prepare the plant for a second battery electric vehicle and to expand production capacity for the Camry sedan and RAV4 crossover. The Indiana allocation will increase capacity for the Grand Highlander SUV.

"Toyota's investment in the U.S. is for the long-term, tied to our philosophy of building where we sell and buying where we build," Mark Templin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, said in a statement.

The investments are part of a commitment Toyota made in November 2025 to spend up to $10 billion at its U.S. plants over the next five years, the company said. CNBC reported that the November commitment came roughly a month after President Donald Trump said during a speech that the Japanese automaker would make a domestic investment of that size.

The news coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Kentucky plant, which has produced more than 14 million vehicles since opening and employs 10,000 workers. The Indiana facility is marking its 30th year of production, with 7,300 workers on staff, the company said.

Toyota Kentucky also announced $4 million in new grant funding for STEM education programs in Scott and Fayette County schools, bringing total funding in the effort to more than $11 million, along with $400,000 for a manufacturing engineering program at Eastern Kentucky University.

The automotive industry has faced increased costs from tariffs under the Trump administration. CNBC reported that Toyota put the bill for U.S. tariffs at 1.4 trillion yen for its current fiscal year, which closes this month.

Toyota directly employs nearly 48,000 people across 11 U.S. manufacturing plants, the company said.