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Toyota teases 2016 RAV4 Hybrid for New York Auto Show

Toyota is being extremely enigmatic with its tease for the newly announced RAV4 Hybrid. The Japanese automaker merely has a photo of the model's rear end with a visible hybrid badge on it. The only additional into tells us to look forward to the CUV's debut in just a few days at the New York Auto Show on April 2. Thankfully, Toyota's teaser shot does give away a few more details about this new version of the RAV4. The LED taillights on display aren't the regular ones that wrap around the back of the popular crossover. In the current design, the white portion is placed near the middle of the hatch, and there's amber at the corner. Here, the indicator is clear and two strips of lights run towards the center. The automaker has made its plan clear to sell even more crossovers in the near future, and the RAV4 has already been a strong mover for Toyota. The company shifted 267,698 of them in 2014, a year-over-year jump of 22.7 percent. Through February 2015, it has sold 41,767 examples of the CUV, a 25.3-percent improvement over the same period last year. Still, the decision to launch a hybrid version of the RAV4 now is a bit surprising. The US market for the green segment was soft last year, and it hasn't really turned around yet. Although, rumors of Toyota launching a greener variant of its popular CUV have been around for years. At that time, the company said it would monitor market demand, and maybe the people have spoken. Related Video: A new hybrid joins the Toyota family. 2016 RAV4 Hybrid. See it April 2, 12:30 p.m. EDT at the New York International Auto Show. Featured Gallery 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid: Teasers News Source: Toyota Design/Style Green New York Auto Show Toyota Crossover Hybrid 2015 ny auto show toyota rav4 hybrid

Toyota offered $146.5 million to build Lexus ES in Kentucky

Toyota posted a media advisory yesterday saying that Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, and Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, would be making a production announcement tomorrow in New York City, and Automotive News reports that the automaker will be announcing a plan to domestically produce the Lexus ES. According to the report, numerous plants are competing to build the ES in North America, and the State of Kentucky has offered the automaker up to $146.5 million to build the luxury sedan at the Georgetown, KY assembly plant.
If Georgetown gets the ES, which has been built in Japan since its debut in 1989, it would be built alongside the Toyota Camry, which is somewhat ironic since in our review of the 2013 Lexus ES350, we wrote that this ES finally says "goodbye to its Camry roots." In order to get the whole amount offered, the article states that Toyota would have to invest $531.2 million and hire 570 full-time workers at the plant, which doesn't sound all that unreasonable since the plant would require an additional 50,000 units of annual production, not to mention the fact that the Georgetown facility is already at its capacity for building the Camry.

Toyota makes $100M investment to boost Indiana Highlander production

Toyota has announced that it will be making a $100 million investment in its Princeton, IN factory in a bid to increase production of its popular Highlander CUV. The move will create 300 new jobs by 2016 and increase the total number of crossovers the plant can produce by 30,000.
Toyota currently builds the Highlander, alongside the fullsize Sequoia, at Toyota Indiana's West Plant. The additional capacity, though, will be sent to the East Plant, which is currently responsible for production of the recently refreshed Sienna minivan.
"The Highlander has been a great product for our plant," Toyota Indiana President Norm Bafunno said in a statement. "Establishing Highlander as the 'bridge vehicle,' as we call it, between the East and West plants increases our ability to meet customer needs for our outstanding products. This exciting news is a true testament to the capability of our hard-working and dedicated team members."