Make wishtv.com your home page

Toyota celebrates a company milestone in Indiana

Toyota Motor North America rolled its 30 millionth vehicle produced in the U.S. at its plant in Princeton, Indiana (photo provided)

PRINCETON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Texas-based Toyota Motor North America is celebrating a milestone this week as it rolled its 30 millionth U.S.–assembled vehicle off the line at its Princeton, Indiana manufacturing plant. Hoosier workers completed the production of an all hybrid 2021 Toyota Sienna minivan.

Toyota started producing vehicles in the U.S. in 1986 and now operates 10 plants in the U.S.

The Princeton plant was built in 1996 to manufacture the Tundra pickup truck, but now it produces the Sienna minivan, Sequoia full-size SUV and the mid-sized Highlander and Highlander Hybrid.

In 2017, the company said it would invest $13 billion in the U.S. In Indiana, the commitment amounted to $1.3 billion and the creation of 550 new jobs. The company now employs approximately 7,000 people at the plant in Gibson County.

“Being responsible for Toyota’s 30-millionth U.S.–assembled vehicle is a huge point of pride for all of us at Toyota Indiana,” said Leah Curry, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana president. “Together with our supplier partners, we build vehicles with our customers in mind.”

The company said the investment helped TMMI meet the demand for the Highlander. The Princeton plant is the only facility in the U.S. manufacturing the Highlander and the Highlander Hybrid.

The company announced last year it would move Sequoia production to Texas by 2022, giving the Indiana plant the ability to manufacture more Highlanders.

The facility has the capacity to produce more than 400,000 vehicles annually.