Lexus to Build ES 300h Hybrid Sedans in Kentucky


Lexus will begin building the ES 300h hybrid sedan alongside the standard ES 350 at their assembly line in Georgetown, Kentucky, starting in May. Expected capacity is 12,000 units a year.

Adding hybrid capability for the ES sedan (and the Toyota RAV4) will cost approximately $7 billion USD, and is part of a greater $13 billion investment by Toyota in North American manufacturing over the next five years.

Toyota’s Kentucky vehicle plant is the company’s largest manufacturing facility in the world, with 8,000 employees building the Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid and Lexus ES models with an annual capacity of 550,000 vehicles.

Lexus ES: Sixth GenerationManufacturingUSA
Comments
Great article to give to those who say a Toyota is the same as Lexus!
Great experience, Krew. I hope one day I can have tour to one of Lexus factories.
R
  • R
    RAL
  • April 11, 2016
The Kentucky plant is something of which one can be truly proud ... made in the USA!

The bourbon is not bad either .. eh Kevin? :yum
Great article! More detail than a BEYOND by Lexus article!
RAL
The Kentucky plant is something of which one can be truly proud ... made in the USA!

The bourbon is not bad either .. eh Kevin? :yum
I'll leave these photos without comment:





:D
Great read, thanks for sharing Kevin! I would love an opportunity to tour a manufacturing facility one day. What really stood out to me was the attention to detail during the whole process and the pride in their work the team shows.
B
I toured the Kentucky plant a couple months ago. It was pretty impressive but at that time, we werent allowed to see the Lexus plant. They told me that at some point in the future, they hoped to extend the tour to the Lexus plant in the near future.
Tragic Bronson
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...enter_and_Plant_Tour-Georgetown_Kentucky.html

Lexus Enthusiast Vacation anyone?
This would actually be a pretty cool thing to do as a group, but my understanding is that the public tour is only for the Toyota side of things.
krew
This would actually be a pretty cool thing to do as a group, but my understanding is that the public tour is only for the Toyota side of things.
Being in Canada, I believe you said you've toured the Cambridge plant...does their public tour only show you the Toyota lines?
Tragic Bronson
Being in Canada, I believe you said you've toured the Cambridge plant...does their public tour only show you the Toyota lines?
The public tour in Cambridge does both sides, but quickly. There is a Lexus owners tour that's very cool, but it's only open to Canadians. That said, if people were interested, I'm sure something could be arranged.
krew
The public tour in Cambridge does both sides, but quickly. There is a Lexus owners tour that's very cool, but it's only open to Canadians. That said, if people were interested, I'm sure something could be arranged.
"Hey I want free health care"
Tragic Bronson
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...enter_and_Plant_Tour-Georgetown_Kentucky.html

Lexus Enthusiast Vacation anyone?
About an 8 hour drive from me, hmmm. Wish the Lexus side was included on the tour.
B
Tragic Bronson
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...enter_and_Plant_Tour-Georgetown_Kentucky.html

Lexus Enthusiast Vacation anyone?
That would be fun.
R
  • R
    RAL
  • April 13, 2016
I've enjoyed touring the Corvette plant in Bowling Green ... The Georgetown plant is about 90 minutes away, but I'm not interested until the ES tour is available. You are a privileged man Kevin ... and deservedly so!
Awesome Krew! In one of my recent Lexus classes we discussed this plant with great enthusiasm. Our instructor, who also had an amazing slideshow of the Toyota museum in Japan, talked about the months and months of training required to meet the Japanese level of perfection. He said how the plant had been running at or near full speed for nearly 1 year prior to the official opening. And during that time the cars were coming off the line with varying failures. But the Japanese supervisors would not divulge where the car failed, the Kentucky workers had to determine where the failure was and then how to correct that problem. That level of persistence really comes through in the finished product. The current ESs are the best I've seen and I've been with Lexus for nearly a decade.
KREW very awesome report and its cool to hear about the sense of pride you have leaving each factory!
A
wow great read, thanks for the share!
Great thread, Krew.:) That particular plant has long had a quality reputation, and proved, decades ago, that Camrys could be built here in the U.S. just as well as they could in Japanese plants.

K