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Toyota investing $750M, adding 600 jobs at 5 U.S. plants

BUFFALO, W.Va. — Toyota on Thursday announced it is investing an additional $750 million at five U.S. plants that will bring nearly 600 new jobs, including the production of two hybrid vehicles for the first time at its Kentucky facility. It marks yet another expansion of the Japanese automaker's U.S. presence, bringing to nearly $13 billion the amount it will spend by 2021. The latest investments are at facilities in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia. Those same facilities were part of a 2017 announcement by Toyota for a $374 million investment to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain. Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz said the latest investments "represent even more examples of our long-term commitment to build where we sell. 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." Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky, facility will get a $238 million infusion to produce hybrid versions of Lexus ES 300 sedans starting in May and the Rav4 SUV starting in January 2020, the company announced. It also includes $288 million to increase annual engine capacity at Toyota's Huntsville, Alabama, facility. The plant will add 450 jobs to accommodate new four-cylinder and V6 engine production lines. Last year Toyota and Mazda announced plans to build a $1.6 billion joint-venture plant in Huntsville that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. Toyota also is spending $62 million on equipment to boost production of Toyota and Lexus cylinder heads at its Bodine Aluminum facility in Troy, Missouri, as part of its cost-saving New Global Architecture production strategy to share common parts and components among different vehicles. A $50 million expansion and equipment upgrade at its Bodine plant in Jackson, Tennessee, will add 13 jobs and produce engine blocks while doubling the capacity of hybrid transaxle cases and housings. And Toyota will add 123 jobs and spent $111 million to expand its plant and purchase equipment in Buffalo, West Virginia, to double the capacity of hybrid transaxles. Previously, Toyota also announced a $600 million investment at its Princeton, Indiana, plant to increase the capacity of its Highlander SUV and to incorporate the new production strategy, and $170 million to launch the 2020 Corolla on a new production line in Blue Springs, Mississippi.

2021 Lexus NX 300 and NX 300h stick to the formula

After placing the limited-run NX 300h F Sport Black Line Special Edition at the top of the range, Lexus has announced few changes for the rest of the NX lineup going into 2021. For its sixth year on the market, on the exterior of the compact luxury crossover, Blue Vortex Metallic slips off the color wheel, replaced by Nori Green Pearl. The deep forest hue dazzled recently on the 2020 Lexus LC 500 Inspiration Series. Less visible to outsiders, NX models get low-profile windshield wiper blades, and power-folding, auto-dimming, reverse-tilt mirrors. Revisions to the standard interior have been confined to a revised horn pad, and a slightly different red zone on the tachometer, but Lexus didn't clarify what that last point means. Among the feature set, every NX will include blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert in the driver safety technology that's grouped under the Lexus Safety System+ 2.0 banner. Turning to the options sheet, ordering the Navigation package will include the HomeLink garage door opening system, and the Mark Levinson audio system comes with an updated amplifier.   After that, what we're already familiar with from the NX lineup carries on. That means three trims, the NX 300, NX 300 F Sport, and NX 300h, plus the NX 300h F Sport Black Line until they're all sold. Engine choices are a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 235 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque on the non-hybrid models, and a 2.5-liter Atkinson cycle four-cylinder engine in the NX 300h that works with three electric motors to produce a total combined output of 194 horsepower. The non-hybrid NX trims get a six-speed transmission, the hybrid employs a CVT. Related Video:

Lexus will build a production version of the UX crossover

It seems that Lexus's selection of crossovers is about to get bigger by going smaller. The Australian automotive news site Motoring says a Lexus representative confirmed that a production version of the UX concept is coming soon. A Lexus representative said it will help bring younger customers to the brand. As a refresher, the UX was a subcompact crossover shown at the Paris auto show, and it was quite striking. The exterior was a flurry of curves and angles, and the interior had crazy seats with elastic straps instead of cushions and a holographic user interface. The interior even had a weird, finned sound bar in the dash that could be removed and carried around. The futuristic interior features are practically guaranteed to be exclusive to the concept, and the exterior design will probably be toned down. Since the slightly larger Lexus NX borrows some bits from the RAV4, we expect the UX to utilize some underpinnings from another the smallest crossover in the Toyota line, the Toyota C-HR. Sharing with the C-HR would also mean the UX would also have some commonality with the current Prius, as both vehicles use the scalable architecture known as TNGA. This would also mean a hybrid UX is a strong possibility as well, since the Prius is only available as a hybrid, and the C-HR has a hybrid option in Europe and Japan. It's hard to say when the car will arrive, but considering the compact crossover craze we can't imagine that Lexus wants to wait too long. It's possible a near production-ready concept will appear at a show next year, and would likely reach dealers at the end of that year or the start of the following one. Related Video: Featured Gallery Lexus UX Concept: Paris 2016 View 17 Photos News Source: MotoringImage Credit: Drew Phillips Lexus Crossover Luxury toyota c-hr lexus ux