RAV4 Hybrid Hits the Production Line in the Bluegrass
RAV4 Hybrid joins Avalon, Camry hybrids, Lexus 300h at Georgetown, Kentucky, plant after nine months of preparation.
Toyota is on the march towards electrification. Gasoline will still be available in the near term, but hybrid and EV versions of each model will arrive by 2025. Aside from the obvious examples (Prius, Mirai), there are already hybrid versions of the Camry, Avalon, and Corolla on the road.
Now, the RAV4 joins the hybrid party in a big way. Toyota announced January 8 the start of production of the newest addition to the compact crossover family at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky in Georgetown, Kentucky.
“We are excited to see the past nine months of preparation come to life with the completion of our first Kentucky-built 2020 RAV4 Hybrid,” said TMMK President Susan Elkington. “This milestone would not have been possible without the hard work of our dedicated team members and our recent investments. We are proud to offer an alternative powertrain for each of the products we currently build and couldn’t be happier to add the popular RAV4 Hybrid to that list.”
The RAV4 Hybrid isn’t the first hybrid to leave Georgetown. The Lexus 300h landed in the Bluegrass from Japan back in May 2019. Meanwhile, the Avalon Hybrid has been in production since 2012, and the Camry Hybrid arrived in 2006.
The second-gen RAV4 Hybrid enters the land of thoroughbreds on a big wave of success. After arriving in Ireland in late December 2018, the rest of the world helped propel the crossover to a 93.3% jump in sales over the course of 2019.
The sales of the hybrid, in turn, placed the RAV4 family at the top as the best-selling SUV or crossover in the United States. According to Car and Driver, 448,071 copies were sold in 2019. The figure bests that of Honda’s best-selling crossover, the CR-V, by a country mile. It even outsold the Camry, Tacoma, and Highlander, which were anywhere from less than 100,000 off, to 200,000.
The RAV4 Hybrid represents a $238-million investment into TMMK, a good chunk of the $7 billion invested thus far since its opening in 1986. As reported by the plant in May 2019, 100,000 copies of the new RAV4 are expected to leave for showrooms around the country every year.
Photos: Toyota
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