Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Toyota’s battery manufacturing plant in Liberty, North Carolina, USA.
Alison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images
toyota motors announced Wednesday that it has started production at a new $13.9 billion battery factory in North Carolina, confirming plans to invest up to $10 billion more in the U.S. over the next five years than previously expected.
According to the release, the Japanese automaker did not provide details about the investment increase other than that Tetsuo Ogawa, CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation North America, called it a “pivotal moment” in the company’s history along with the new battery factory.
This facility will be Toyota’s first in-house battery factory outside of Japan. The product was first announced in December 2021 as the Biden administration pushes for onshore production of batteries for hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
Since then, market conditions for EVs have worsened, but demand for hybrids continues to grow rapidly. According to data from Motor Intelligence, these changes are positive for Toyota. The company is the U.S. leader in hybrid sales, with more than 51% market share through the third quarter of this year.
It is unclear how much of the investment was already planned but not previously announced, but the announcement comes after President Donald Trump announced last month that Toyota would invest $10 billion in the United States.
Toyota and the auto industry as a whole are trying to navigate production plans amid regulatory changes affecting EVs and President Trump’s flurry of tariffs on new cars and parts.
Through the third quarter of this year, Toyota’s U.S. sales increased 9.9%, selling more than 1.3 million vehicles.
