PRINCETON, Ind. — Toyota is making a major investment at its Princeton, Indiana plant that will bring in 1,400 new jobs to produce two new vehicles designed to help the brand meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI) on Wednesday announced an $803 million investment and 1,400 new jobs at its Princeton auto-manufacturing plant.
"Toyota has been an incredible partner to the state of Indiana for nearly 25 years, and we're thrilled to continue that partnership in order to drive our economy forward," said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The new employees will produce two new three-row SUVs. Only one of the new vehicles will bear the Toyota name. The other will officially introduce the Lexus line to Toyota Indiana.
Although the company said it will be officially announcing these two new SUVs at a later date, Toyota did divulge that the new vehicles will feature a semi-automated driving system, remote parking, and a digital key.
They will also join Toyota's portfolio of electric cars. Toyota hopes these SUVs will help it reach its global goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
"This investment and new vehicle line-up will allow us to continue our work with electrification, expand our portfolio to around 70 models globally by 2025, and meet the needs of our customers while we accelerate towards carbon neutrality," said Ted Ogawa, president and CEO of Toyota Motor North America.
A news release said Toyota Indiana's environmental team has created "thousands of metric tons in CO2 savings for the plant" and invested over $4 million on CO2 reduction projects with another $2.7 million committed for the coming year.
The Princeton facility already has 7,000 employees. Toyota believes adding 1,400 new jobs will cement the facility's ability to take on two new vehicles.
The $803 million investment will be used to prepare the manufacturing line for the new vehicles, production-employee training, as well as provide supplier re-tooling at their facilities.
Since 1998, Toyota has invested a total of $6.6 billion in its Princeton site.
