Toyota on Tuesday announced plans to invest $600 million and add 400 new jobs to its auto plant in Princeton, Ind.
The project, which includes retooling as well as new equipment and advanced technology, is scheduled to begin in late 2019. It will enable the southwestern Indiana facility to manufacture an additional 40,000 additional Highlander SUVs per year.
The Princeton facility churned out a record 400,000 Highlanders last year, company officials said.
"The Highlander has been a great vehicle for our plant and we are excited to deliver even more of them to our loyal customers,” Toyota Indiana president Millie Marshall said in a statement.
Numerous automakers made investments in U.S. plants in recent months in an effort to bolster production of trucks and SUVs, which have higher profit margins and are selling well amid low gas prices and improved fuel efficiency.
Some vehicle makers are also shifting production of lower-margin small cars into Mexico, which drew repeated criticism from President Donald Trump.
The Princeton project is part of $10 billion in planned investments in Toyota's U.S. plants over the next five years.
