Toyota to invest an additional $10 billion in the US over the next five years to expand local production

The vehicle manufacturing plant in Kentucky, USA, which produces Toyota's best-selling hybrid vehicles (HV) (Provided by the company)

This is the largest investment plan in the United States announced by Japanese automakers since the second Trump administration took office. Toyota will expand the production system of electric vehicles such as hybrid vehicles with strong market demand and their core components through investments in existing factories. Toyota said regarding this investment decision that "it is not affected by tariffs."...

Toyota announced on November 12 that it will invest up to $10 billion in the United States over the next five years. This is the largest investment plan in the United States announced by Japanese automakers since the second Trump administration took office.

Toyota will expand the production system of electric vehicles such as hybrid vehicles (HV) with strong market demand and their core components through investments in existing factories. Although Toyota has not announced the factories and specific projects to be invested in, it is expected that this investment will cover multiple factories and increase the models produced locally in the United States.

Toyota has put forward the policy of promoting "local production and local procurement" in various regions around the world.

Currently, Toyota is gradually increasing the proportion of local production of complete vehicles and core components that were originally exported from Japan to the United States to establish a more stable integrated production system.

Toyota's sales in the US market have maintained a good momentum. From January to October 2025, its sales reached 2.07 million vehicles, an 8% increase compared with the same period last year.

The Trump administration terminated the tax - exemption policy for encouraging the purchase of pure electric vehicles (EV) at the end of September and has a negative attitude towards promoting EVs. This has continuously brought benefits to Toyota's advantageous HV. Currently, including its luxury car brand "Lexus", Toyota holds more than 50% of the HV market in the United States.

Toyota's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Kenta Chika, said on November 5: "Customers' demand for increasing the production of HVs is very strong. We will meet the market demand by improving production capacity", clearly expressing the intention to strengthen the production system.

In April, Toyota announced that it would invest an additional $88 million in its factory in West Virginia in the eastern United States to produce HV - specific components.

Although sales increased, Toyota suffered an operating loss (excluding evaluation losses) of 134.1 billion yen in North America from April to September. Affected by the cost burden brought by the increase in US tariff rates, it suffered its first loss since 2008 during the financial crisis from April to September.

Some believe that expanding the scale of local production will ultimately help improve the profit situation. However, Toyota said regarding this investment decision that "it is not affected by tariffs."

Toyota's battery factory that officially started production on the 12th (Located in North Carolina, USA, provided by the company)

This $10 - billion investment in the United States was announced in conjunction with the official opening of Toyota's first battery factory in the United States. The battery factory is located on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina in the southern United States, and North Carolina is one of the key swing states in the US presidential election.

Regarding Toyota's investment in the United States, US President Trump said after his visit to Japan in October: "(Toyota) has agreed to invest $10 billion to build an automobile factory."

This article is from the WeChat public account "Nikkei Chinese Net" (ID: rijingzhongwenwang). Author: Nikkei Chinese Net. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.