Toyota gets $34 million for investment in Cambridge plant

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) has received a $34 million investment from the Federal and Ontario governments to fund the construction of new assembly lines and add jobs at its Cambridge, Ont. manufacturing facility.

The funding, split 50-50 between the two levels of government through the recently renewed Automotive Innovation Fund, is in addition to a more than $125 million investment from Toyota that will generate up to 400 manufacturing jobs. The Japanese automaker intends to construct new production lines to produce the Lexus RX 450h, which is expected to go to into production in 2014.

The RX 450h will be the first hybrid vehicle assembled in Canada.

The federal government recently renewed the $250 million Automotive Innovation Fund (AIF) for another five years.

The project, introduced in 2008, provides funding for large-scale automotive R&D projects valued at more than $75 million.

Last March, Toyota invested more than $80 million at its Woodstock, Ont. facility to increase production of its RAV4 crossover vehicle to 200,000 units from 150,000.

The introduction of the RX 450h brings the company’s Canadian production to more than 500,000 units annually.

TMMC has assembled more than five million vehicles since the Japanese automaker came to Canada in 1988.