Toyota ends U.S. Lexus ES production in Kentucky, shifting sedan assembly back to Japan by late 2025.
Georgetown plant retains Camry and RAV4 hybrids, while retooling for a new three-row electric SUV.
Move reflects platform alignment with Toyota Crown, not tariffs.
Toyota will end U.S. production of the Lexus ES sedans at its Georgetown, Kentucky facility before the end of 2025, moving assembly of the long-running luxury model back to Japan. The decision, first announced in 2021, is one of many steps in the automaker’s strategy to retool Toyota’s largest global manufacturing site for new products, including electric vehicles.
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The Georgetown plant, covering nine million square feet and employing more than 9,400 people, has built the Lexus ES since 2015. Alongside the ES, the factory produces the Toyota Camry hybrid, RAV4 hybrid, and engines. Production of those models will continue uninterrupted, and Toyota has confirmed that no jobs will be lost as a result of the ES phase-out.
Earlier this year, Toyota announced a $1.3 billion investment to prepare the Kentucky site for a new three-row battery-electric SUV. While the automaker has not confirmed which model will occupy the space left by the ES, the change is intended to maximize volume and production, while also sticking to electrification and hybrid vehicles.
2026 Lexus ES | Photo: LexusSpeculation has swirled around whether U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports influenced the decision. A recent trade agreement between Japan and the Trump administration reduced tariffs on vehicles and parts from a threatened 25% to 15%. However, Toyota confirmed the move had been planned long ago.
Industry analysts point to product strategy rather than politics. The next-generation 2026 Lexus ES will ride on the Toyota Crown platform, which is exclusively built in Japan. Keeping ES production aligned with the Crown not only reduces retooling costs at U.S. plants but also keeps the sedan’s assembly close to its component supply chain.
We also suspect that very poor Crown and Crown Signia sales in Canada and the U.S. since their arrival not quite two years ago may also serve as a bonus reason for Toyota to move the ES back to Japan. Purely speculating, we can see the Crown being pulled from North American shelves in the near future, leaving production room for the new, more popular Lexus.
Pooled together, Crown and Crown Signia numbers amount to just over 17,000 units in the first half of 2025, in the U.S. Lexus hustled the now nearly 7-year-old ES to over 19,000 customers in the same period.
Once ES production ends, Toyota’s Indiana facility, which builds the Lexus TX alongside the Toyota Highlander, Grand Highlander, and Sienna, will remain the company’s only U.S. plant producing Lexus vehicles.
Source: TTAC
