Toyota selects Canada for first Lexus production outside Japan

Toyota president Tag Taguchi has announced that Toyota will build the first Lexus vehicle outside Japan at the firm’s Cambridge, Ontario plant. “I an pleased to announce that we have chosen Canada as the site of our first overseas Lexus plant, said Taguchi. “Canadians have made Toyota’s Cambridge plant an excellent choice to build a world-class luxury vehicle.”

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. will begin building the Lexus RX 300 sport utility vehicle in 2003. The $650 million investment is expected to create 300 new jobs and boost the plant’s capacity from 200,000 to 220,000 vehicles per year. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada is one of four Toyota vehicle production facilities in North America. With an existing capacity of 200,000 vehicles, it currently manufactures the Camry Solara coupe and the Corolla sedan for sale across North America. To allow for Lexus production, Solara will move to Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant, which currently makes the Camry sedan, s well as Avalon and Sienna. The Canadian Lexus dealer network will also expand from 22 to 30 dealers this year.

In other news from Toyota, the company officially opened a new west coast parts and administration complex in Richmond, B.C. The new 100,000 square foot Parts Distribution Centre is more flexible and less mechanized than the facility it replaces, with ten percent more storage space in only one percent more area. The company reports that Toyota dealerships can place a parts order on any working day and get shipment within four hours, with most parts arriving before noon the following day.