Two Ontario Toyota plants to get $1.4 billion upgrade

Canada’s federal government and the Ontario provincial government will contribute a combined $220 million – or $100 million each – toward a $1.4 billion upgrade at two Toyota Canada manufacturing plants in Ontario.

Toyota’s plants in Cambridge, Ont., and in Woodstock, Ont., will be upgraded. .

Upon completion of the upgrades, the Cambridge and Woodstock factories will become Toyota’s North American manufacturing hub for the RAV4, including hybrid versions.

The investment is expected to result in the creation of 450 new jobs and 1,000 new co-op jobs, and spending of $200 million by Toyota in research and development in Canada over the next 10 years.

The two plants currently employ about 8,000 people and produce more than half a million vehicles each year.