Cambridge part of $1.4B Toyota upgrade for RAV4
Federal and provincial governments each contribute $110M, 450 new jobs expected
CAMBRIDGE — Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. has announced it will invest $1.4 billion in its Cambridge and Woodstock assembly plants to build the newest model of the RAV4 sport utility vehicle.
The provincial and federal government will each kick in $110 million, and the investment will help upgrade the north plant in Cambridge and the west plant in Woodstock to help with the production of the next generation of RAV4s, including new hybrids, as well as research and development over the next decade.
The investment will create 450 new jobs at the company as well as 1,000 new co-op placements, and support the already more than 8,000 jobs in Southwestern Ontario.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Canada’s auto sector in recent years, and it’s no secret the industry has gone through a great deal of change,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the announcement at the north plant
in Cambridge Friday afternoon. “Agreements like this one are key to creating good, well-paying jobs for the middle class and for people working hard to join it.”
Premier Kathleen Wynne said the investment is about standing up for workers and protecting manufacturing jobs.
The $100-million investment will “further boost our provinces place in the global auto sector. This investment will make Cambridge and Woodstock the North American manufacturing hub for the RAV4,” she said.
Once upgrades are complete, the Cambridge plant will join the Woodstock facility in producing the RAV4, one of Toyota’s bestselling vehicles.
The company sold 50,000 in Canada last year and more than 400,000 in the United States.
The $1.4-billion investment is on top of the company’s previous investment of about $1 billion over the past three years, said Fred Volf, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. The company will spend about $200 million of this newest investment on research and development over 10 years.
Friday’s announcement came just days before the official start of the provincial election on May 9 — one that sees Wynne and her governing Liberal party trailing in the polls — and the premier couldn’t help but take a jab at her top opponent.
“The Conservatives and (party leader) Doug Ford fail to understand the value of investments like this one,” she said.
Wynne was also asked whether the funding could be viewed as an attempt to buy votes leading up to the June 7 election.
“This is an investment that’s been in the works for some time,” she said. “This has much more to do with Ontario’s ongoing successful economy than it does with an election.”
In 2015, Toyota announced it would move production of the popular Corolla sedan from Cambridge to Mexico and replace it with the RAV4. That plan changed in January when Toyota announced Corolla production would move to a new plant in Alabama. The Cambridge plant had been producing Corollas since 1988.
Toyota employs nearly 8,000 people at its two plants in Woodstock and Cambridge, with about 5,600 of those in Cambridge. The company also makes the Lexus RX 350 and Lexus RX 450 hybrid in Cambridge.
The automotive sector is Canada’s largest export industry, with more than 500,000 jobs and it contributes $18 billion annually to the economy.