GEORGETOWN, Ky., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Toyota Motor
Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) celebrated the production launch of the
Camry Hybrid today -- Toyota's first hybrid vehicle produced in North America.
The addition of hybrid production represents a $10 million investment at
TMMK, which will build approximately 48,000 Camry Hybrid vehicles per year.
TMMK was established in 1986 and is Toyota's largest plant in North
America. It employs approximately 7,000 team members and currently builds the
Camry, Avalon and Solara. The plant has the capacity to build 500,000
vehicles annually. Since its inception, TMMK has built about 6.7 million
vehicles, and the plant's current investment is $5.4 billion.
"We are proud, excited and honored to be Toyota's first plant in North
America to build a hybrid vehicle," said Steve St. Angelo, President of TMMK.
"It's a great tribute to the tremendous ability and skill level of all of our
team members, who have been building the Camry, America's number one selling
sedan."
"America's hybrid leader now sells a Camry hybrid made in America," said
Don Esmond, Toyota Motor Sales senior vice president, Automotive Operations.
"Production at the new Kentucky plant marks an exciting chapter in Toyota's
history and a monumental step toward our ongoing commitment to hybrid
technology."
The Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive System consists of gas and electric power
sources that are complementary and produce a combined 187 horsepower. This
system varies power between gas and electric, or both, as needed. The first-
half of the system consists of a 2.4 liter four cyl ...