GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) -- It was 25 years ago that dignitaries from Japan and Kentucky stood on 1,400 acres of vacant land in Scott County to break ground on a new Toyota Motor Corp. assembly plant.
During that ceremony Toyota president Shoichiro Toyoda said he wanted the company's first North American plant to become a good corporate citizen to Kentucky and build a partnership with America.
"Kentucky has long been the home of the best racehorses. It is going to be the home of the best cars in the world as well," Toyoda said on May 5, 1986.
The plant, called Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc., was designed to build 200,000 Camry automobiles a year with 3,000 workers.
Today it employs 6,800 and has the capacity to build half a million cars in a year, The News-Graphic in Georgetown reported. The plant still builds Camrys, the best-selling car in the U.S. for the past nine years, along with the Avalon sedan and the Venza SUV.
Scott Judge-Executive George Lusby, who served on the city council in 1986, said Toyota's contribution to Scott County can be seen today in its new roads and schools and its renovated courthouse.
During that ceremony Toyota president Shoichiro Toyoda said he wanted the company's first North American plant to become a good corporate citizen to Kentucky and build a partnership with America.
"Kentucky has long been the home of the best racehorses. It is going to be the home of the best cars in the world as well," Toyoda said on May 5, 1986.
The plant, called Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc., was designed to build 200,000 Camry automobiles a year with 3,000 workers.
Today it employs 6,800 and has the capacity to build half a million cars in a year, The News-Graphic in Georgetown reported. The plant still builds Camrys, the best-selling car in the U.S. for the past nine years, along with the Avalon sedan and the Venza SUV.
Scott Judge-Executive George Lusby, who served on the city council in 1986, said Toyota's contribution to Scott County can be seen today in its new roads and schools and its renovated courthouse.