Toyota’s long national nightmare is over. The automaker’s $2 billion investment in its Kentucky plant began paying off as the first all-new RAV4 rolled off the production line after months of asking buyers to be patient.
“Making our customers smile by delivering high-quality vehicles like the all-new RAV4 Hybrid has been our legacy for 40 years,” said Kerry Creech, president of Toyota Kentucky, in a release. “The milestones we celebrate today reflect our team’s commitment to sustainability and our unwavering promise to continue to deliver vehicles our customers love.”
The RAV4 is the best-selling SUV in the United States, and despite its popularity, Toyota made changes to the newest version in order to address several issues. In order to do that, it had to expand its Georgetown, Kentucky plant in order to meet consumer demand. Toyota now builds the RAV4 in three plants — Kentucky expanded RAV4 production 40,000 units annually — in order to meet the demand for the ute.
According to Automotive News, the RAV4 has a turn rate well above 95 percent, including 97.6 percent in May. Dealers have waiting lists — some with hundreds of names — for the vehicles, and there are plenty of examples the vehicles being off-loaded from the car carrier and basically handed over to a buyer.
Because of the model changeover, Toyota had to make adjustments to the production lines at the plants producing the vehicle. While that took place, sales of the RAV4 dropped about 40 percent because the run rate was much slower as the plants made the conversion from the old version to the next-generation model.
Toyota Kentucky is increasing its role in meeting growing customer demand for electrified vehicles by supporting Toyota’s multi-pathway approach to electrification and will also launch the new Highlander Battery Electric Vehicle in September 2026.
[Images: Toyota]
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via Autobuzz Today
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