Toyota West Virginia Gets $210 Million and 100 New Jobs
On the heels of announcing the production of its 30th million vehicle in North America, Toyota is continuing to invest in U.S. manufacturing with an additional $210 million at its West Virginia plant. The automaker says that with this new investment, it will have poured more than $1.8 billion in the engine manufacturing plant where it employs approximately 2,000 people.
“Today’s announcement represents Toyota’s continued commitment to our customers as well as our community,” said TMMWV President Srini Matam. “We are thrilled to expand our Toyota family and continue our long-standing commitment to provide top-quality engines and transmissions for our customers.”
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Currently, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia builds four-cylinder and V6 engines as well as six-speed automatic transmission for a significant number of vehicles, including the Corolla sedan, RAV4 SUV, Sienna minivan, and Lexus ES 350 luxury car.
The $210 million investment will be used to upgrade TMMWV’s existing six-cylinder engine production line with new machinery and equipment. Toyota seems to be expecting fluctuations in demand from its assembly plants across North America and says this investment will allow it to remain flexible.
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Additionally, the 100 new jobs will create a third shift to boost engine production for the RAV4. With 420,387 units sold in 2020, the RAV4 was the bestselling SUV in America as well as the fourth bestselling vehicle overall, behind only pickup trucks.
As SUV sales have been surging for many years, there’s good reason to believe RAV4 demand will continue to increase. The new shift at Toyota’s Buffalo site will enable the company to build an extra 5,900 engines per month, or 70,000 engines per year.
TMMWV will celebrate its 25-year anniversary in 2021, over the course of which it will have built more than 10 million engines and transmissions. Today, it builds nearly 1 million engines and transmissions annually.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.