Per Nikkei Asia, Toyota and Lexus are delaying the production of electric vehicles in the United States due to slowing consumer demand and production refinements.
According to the article, Toyota was aiming to produce a new three-row electric SUV at its Kentucky plant beginning in 2025 with a similar Lexus model built alongside it. Production of the Toyota model has now been pushed off to the first half of 2026, and the Lexus SUV will now be produced in Japan.
In the 2021 announcement that Lexus vehicles would go fully electric by 2030, several battery-powered concepts were shown, one of which was a large SUV. That SUV also had a Toyota counterpart which was displayed during a similar announcement highlighting future Toyota investment in electric vehicles. Knowing Toyota and Lexus models sometimes lead parallel paths to production, it was assumed these two vehicles would be related, so producing them in the same factory was a logical assumption.
While Toyota may have delayed expansions to its Kentucky plant to begin building BEVs, and canceled the plan to build electric Lexus SUVs there, production of the electric Lexus SUV may still remain on target with production in Japan instead.
Lexus is among many automakers rethinking committed plans and production around battery electric vehicles in the midst of slowing sales and consumer preference for hybrids. As more information is available on Lexus’ production plans for future electric vehicles, we will share it here.
Source: Nikkei Asia
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