Monday, December 20, 1999
Toyota sets expansion at Princeton truck plant
$800 million investment will add 2,000 jobs
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Toyota Motor Corp. announced plans Sunday to ramp up production at its plant in Princeton by about 150,000 vehicles — a move that will create 2,000 new jobs.
The expansion at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc., a subsidiary that operates the plant about 5 miles south of Princeton, will be paid for with an $800 million investment from the company.
Toyota in a release said the growth is intended to increase annual production in North America by 200,000 units to approximately 1.45 million vehicles a year in the near future.
“Toyota has always been committed to building vehicles in the local markets where they are sold,” Toyota president Fujio Cho said in a release.
“This new plan of expansion in manufacturing as well as operations shows our continued commitment to the North American market,” he said.
The $1.2 billion Princeton plant started producing vehicles last December. It is the sole manufacturer of the new Tundra full-size pickup truck.
Beginning in fall 2000, the plant will start making a new sport utility vehicle, the Se quoia.
In April, Hiroshi Okuda, who was Toyota's president at the time, said the automaker was looking at possibly adding another assembly line in Princeton or expanding its car plant in Cambridge, Ontario.
Mr. Okuda was promoted to chairman in June. His successor as president, Mr. Cho, told reporters outside a Tokyo auto show in October that he favored enlarging the company's operation in Georgetown, Ky. He once served there as head of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc.
Toyota also operates an engine and transmission plants in Buffalo, N.Y., and West Virginia.
The company's combined production capacity in North America now is at 1.25 million vehicles per year. U.S. and Canadian sales last year totaled 1.52 million units.
Toyota's decision involving the Princeton plant could have a major effect on the Tristate.
The automaker's North American headquarters is in Erlanger, Ky., and its year-old Princeton complex, north of Evansville — about five hours west of Cincinnati — employs 1,900 in two shifts, including some Greater Cincinnati residents.
Enquirer reporter William A. Weathers contributed to this report.
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