First American-Built Lexus ES 350 Set to Come Off Assembly Line

spwolf

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The first Lexus ES 350 to be produced at the Toyota plant in Georgetown will come off the line in a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

It will be the unveiling of the first Lexus to be manufactured in the United States and outside of Japan.

To prepare for the Lexus production, about $360 million has been invested in a new Lexus-dedicated assembly line at the plant and about 750 workers have been hired. They have received an estimated 1.5 million hours in training, a news release said.

Gov. Steve Beshear is expected to attend the Monday afternoon ceremony.

Toyota announced in 2013 that it would assemble the Lexus vehicle at the Georgetown plant. It has said it expects to produce about 50,000 Lexus vehicles a year at the site, bringing the plant’s total annual production capacity to more than 550,000 vehicles.


http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...ign=buffer&from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
 

krew

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The first USA-built Lexus ES 350 will come off the assembly line this afternoon at the new Lexus Georgetown plant in Kentucky.
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From what I have heard from Lexus USA central area office, the workers are very excited to be part of this and want to produce a car better than the plant in Japan! I have heard from some guests that they aren't confident the Kentucky built cars will be as "quality" as the cars produced in Japan, but sounds like workers are up for the task!! Very exciting!
 

Michael

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I think Lexus should build the cars and suv like how Acura are building their MDX and TLX in the U.S. .
 

corradoMR2

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Makes economic sense to build the ES in the US considering how popular it is there.
 
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mmcartalk

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If I had the money I would buy the first built car just for bragging rights.

My guess is it will probably go to one of the managers there at the plant...or maybe even to one of the workers. But we don't know for sure if Lexus doesn't announce it.

As long as they have been building Camrys and other Camry-based vehicles there successfully, I don't see any reason why they can't produce a well-built ES there as well (though the ES will be built on dedicated a Lexus-only assembly line at the plant). And, of course, it will save Lexus the expense of transporting them across the Pacific in cargo ships or aircraft, so,if the company is honest, they delivery/freight charge should drop somewhat as well.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/10/19/first-us-made-lexus-comes-off-line-ky/74233930/

The first Lexus ES 350 to be produced at the Toyota plant in Georgetown came off the line in a ceremony Monday afternoon.

It will be the unveiling of the first Lexus to be manufactured outside of Japan.

To prepare for the Lexus production, about $360 million has been invested in a new Lexus-dedicated assembly line at the plant and about 750 workers have been hired. They have received an estimated 1.5 million hours in training, a news release said.

Toyota announced in 2013 that it would assemble the Lexus vehicle at the Georgetown plant. It has said it expects to produce about 50,000 Lexus vehicles a year at the site, bringing the plant’s total annual production capacity to more than 550,000 vehicles.

The company currently has its North American manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger. But the headquarters will be closed by early 2017 and its 1,600 jobs will be relocated to Texas, although 300 engineers will be sent to the Georgetown plant.

Gov. Steve Beshear said the "production for the Lexus ES 350 will afford Kentucky a tremendous opportunity to expand and strengthen its vast supplier base, creating even more growth potential in the future. Kentucky is proud of the confidence Toyota continues to demonstrate" in the state's workforce.

Established in 1986, the Georgetown plant is Toyota’s largest manufacturing facility outside of Japan, employing about 6,600 people. The plant currently assembles the Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid and Venza, and it manufactures 4-cylinder and V6 engines.

In 2012, the plant produced the 25 millionth Toyota vehicle built in North America.

The ES is Lexus’ best-selling sedan, with about 58,850 vehicles a year sold in North America.
 
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Did they put back together the 22 ES's that they bought? I'm sure they'd be great employee perks...
 

mmcartalk

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Did they put back together the 22 ES's that they bought? I'm sure they'd be great employee perks...

Perks or not, many auto companies give their employees an additional new-car discount that is usually not available to the general public. GM, though, broke that tradition a number of years ago, before its bankruptcy/reorganization, when they temporarily boosted sales by offering the "employee" prices to the public. Obviously wasn't enough to ward off the bankruptcy, though.