Americans have grown used to hearing about U-S jobs being shipped overseas. Now, one of the biggest names in global auto manufacturing is moving jobs from Japan to Indiana.
Toyota Motor Corporation is shifting producing of its Highlander sport-utility vehicle from Japan to its plant in Princeton, Indiana. Toyota plans to invest 400-million dollars to expand the Gibson County factory, and add 400 new jobs.
The company currently makes the Highlander and Sequoia SUVs and the Sienna minivan at the Princeton facility, which already employs nearly 4,000 people. Toyota says the expansion will allow the company to assemble an additional 50,000 hybrid and gas-powered Highlanders.
In announcing the move, Toyota’s President and Chief Operating Officer of North American operations said that for each of the 400 new jobs created by the move, three-and-a-half “spin-off” jobs would also come to the southern Indiana region.
The Princeton plan is located about 40 miles north of Evansville.
