Kentucky Dangles $146.5 Million In Front Of Toyota To Build Lexus ES

Toyota Motor Corp. is being offered $146.5 million in tax incentives by Kentucky to expand its plant in Georgetown to build the Lexus ES.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority on Wednesday approved the package, based on Toyota enlarging the Georgetown factory to add a new model by 2015.

The offer from Kentucky comes as Toyota President Akio Toyoda and North American CEO Jim Lentz prepare to make an announcement on U.S. production on Friday.

knowitall1985 - 4/18/2013 5:01:53 PM

+1 Boost

They need Lexus factories here in case of another earthquake.....

MorePower - 4/19/2013 1:37:18 AM

+2 Boost

They need factories in the U.S. because the U.S. dollar is more stable than the Yen.

Because the ES, RX, Highlander, Venza and Avalon are all built off of the Camry chassis, why not build them all in the same place.

knowitall1985 - 4/20/2013 5:37:23 PM

+1 Boost

WRONG!! The New ES is built on the Avalon chassis.....

MorePower - 4/26/2013 4:29:50 AM

+1 Boost

@knowitall1985

The Avalon chassis is a stretched Camry chassis. So no, I am not wrong.

HughJass - 4/19/2013 12:19:57 AM

+2 Boost

Toyota would have given the greenlight even without tax incentives. Its cheaper to expand an existing plant and to use existing labour than it is to build a new factory.

Also is insurance in case of another disaster.

Don't really like tax dollars being given away so to speak.

lexworld - 4/21/2013 9:18:03 AM

+2 Boost

It's a risk i'm sure they've already figured out by now. After all, they Lexuses we get in America were created for the U.S. market and would only add hundreds if not thousands of more jobs to the state of Kentucy unemployment. Toyota is a job creating machine in the U.S. and that's a very good thing that Americans should be grateful/thankful.