This is the first time Lexus will build the NX outside Japan.
There is likely a new Lexus NX is coming in 2022. We now have that information as Toyota said it would build the model at a Canadian plant from that point onward. The Cambridge, Ontario plant currently builds the Lexus RX as well as the new Toyota RAV4.
Reuters reports Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the announcement, saying it “demonstrated the value of the country’s international trade agreements.” Over the next few years, Toyota will invest hundreds of millions of dollars to produce the NX and its hybrid variants. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Cambridge president Fred Volf said the plant would produce the NX “for the entire North American market.”
The larger RX and RX Hybrid were the first Lexus models produced outside Japan. They are also build at the Cambridge plant, and now Lexus will build the NX alongside its larger sibling, as the company continues production at its Miyata plant in Fukuoka, Japan. Prime Minister Trudeau said Toyota’s plan shores up more than 8,000 jobs for the factory.
Toyota previously announced plans to move new Corolla production from Cambridge to its new joint factory with Mazda. Both companies plan to start production at that Alabama facility in 2021.
Sticking it out in Canada
Toyota’s news comes as the automotive industry has taken a turn in Canada. General Motors said last year it would close its Oshawa assembly plant by the end of 2019, resulting in nearly 2,500 job losses for the area. Fiat Chrysler said in March that it would cut a shift at its Windsor assembly plant, causing 1,500 job losses.
Volf said building the Lexus NX in Cambridge “means that Toyota’s Canadian manufacturing operations are here to stay.” Trudeau had previously met with Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda on the potential to build the NX in Canada.
Check out the current generation NX 300h taking on Gold Mine Hill below:
