[DETROIT] Toyota Motor is tapping the brakes on plans to build electric vehicles (EVs) in the US to free up manufacturing capacity for a popular petrol-powered SUV.
The Japanese automaker plans to begin producing a new electric SUV at its plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, starting in 2028, more than a year later than planned, according to the company. The unnamed plug-in model was slated to be produced at Toyota’s plant in Princeton, Indiana, but instead will be built in Kentucky.
The move will allow the company to boost the output of its hot-selling Grand Highlander SUV, which is offered as a petrol-only or hybrid petrol-electric model.
The new battery-powered model will join another as-yet unnamed three-row electric SUV that Toyota now plans to begin producing at the Georgetown plant in late 2026, rather than early next year, a company spokesperson said. The EV production shift from the Princeton plant to Kentucky was reported earlier by Automotive News.
The latest delays comes as demand for EVs has softened in the US and may weaken further after the Senate passed legislation that would end popular tax credits that have helped buyers afford those vehicles. Toyota said as recently as May that it plans to offer seven EVs for sale in the US by mid-2027, including the pair of US-made SUVs.
Total EV sales rose 7.3 per cent in the US last year to some 1.3 million vehicles, according to Cox Automotive. But Toyota delivered fewer than 30,000 all-electric in the US in 2024, even as its sales of hybrid petrol-electrics skyrocketed.
At the same time, hybrid-electric and petrol-powered SUVs are in high demand. Toyota sold 11,577 Grand Highlander mid-sized SUVs last month, ending June with just a three-day supply of them at its dealers.
“That vehicle has actually been our fastest-turning product in the lineup,” David Christ, the head of Toyota brand sales in the US, told reporters on Tuesday (Jul 1) in a briefing. BLOOMBERG
