March 14, 2019 - Toyota has pledged investments in U.S. operations of $13 billion over five years. The automaker outlined $750 million in new investments March 14 that include adding the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Lexus ES 300 Hybrid vehicle production at its Georgetown, Kentucky, plant; expanding engine capacity at its Huntsville, Alabama; doubling hybrid transaxle capacity at its plant in Buffalo, West Virginia; and a building expansion for additional castings at Bodine Aluminum's Jackson, Tennessee, facility as well as expanding castings capacity in Troy, Missouri.

“By boosting our U.S. manufacturing footprint, we can better serve our customers and dealers and position our manufacturing plants for future success with more domestic capacity,” Jim Lentz, chief executive officer for Toyota Motor North America.

Toyota will spend $288 in Alabama to increase annual engine capacity from 670,000 to 900,000 units by the end of 2021 to increase product flexibility and better accommodate market demand. New 4-cylinder and V6 engine lines will require 450 new hires at Huntsville, Alabama, the largest hiring spree in the plant's history. The investment also includes a building expansion.

The automaker will spend $238 million in its Kentucky assembly plant, launching  production of the Lexus ES 300 Hybrid this May with annual capacity of 12,000 units. RAV4 Hybrid production will start January 2020 with an annual capacity of 100,000 units. Kentucky’s 8,000 team members also build Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid and Lexus ES models with an annual capacity of 550,000 vehicles.

A $62 million investment in Bodine Aluminum, Troy, Missouri, will provide equipment to produce an additional 864,000 cylinder heads for Toyota's New Global Architecture. Bodine Missouri now manufacture more than 3 million cylinder heads a year, which are made for every Toyota and Lexus manufactured in North America. Fifty million dollars for Bodine Aluminum’s Jackson, Tennessee, casting operation includes a building expansion and equipment to double the capacity of hybrid transaxle cases and housings to 240,000 units a year; plus equipment to build an additional 288,000 engine blocks a year. The plant now makes 1.7 million engine blocks a year, which supply every Toyota and Lexus manufactured in North America, and 580,000 transmission cases and housings.

The plan for $111 million in West Virginia buys a building expansion and equipment to double capacity of hybrid transaxles from 120,000 units to 240,000 units per year by 2021.