Toyota Kentucky Brings Home Platinum Plant Quality Award in J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

Georgetown, Kentucky  (June 22, 2016) — When it comes to initial quality, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky (TMMK) knows how to roll.  The facility’s Lexus line, which began production just last fall, has received the Platinum award – a tie with Toyota’s Kyushu 2 plant (Lexus ES, RX) in Japan – in the 2016 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. The award represents the highest-performing assembly plant in the world for initial quality.

“This is yet another proud moment for us,” said Wil James, TMMK president.  “The single most accurate and valuable tool on the Lexus line is the highly skilled, well-trained team member whose human senses help create a world-class luxury automobile. This is truly a tribute to them.”

The Kentucky plant is the first in the U.S. to build Lexus, and the line represents an investment of $360 million and 750 new jobs. To prepare for the launch, Lexus members trained for months before ever touching an actual car. The team collectively logged more than 1.5 million training hours.

This is the 11th* J.D. Power award the Kentucky plant has received since it began production in 1988.

In addition to the Platinum award, the Camry line located in Subaru’s Lafayette, Ind. plant received Silver in the North/South America category, while Motomachi 1 in Japan, which produces Lexus GS, received Silver in the Asia Pacific category.

Five vehicles also took the top spot in their respective segments: Toyota Camry/Midsize Car, Lexus CT/Small Premium Car, Toyota Corolla/Compact Car, Toyota Highlander/Midsize SUV and Lexus GS/Midsize Premium Car.

*TMMK has earned four Gold awards from J.D. Power (1990, 1993, 1994, 2000), in addition to three Silver awards (1991, 2001, 2006) and three Bronze awards (1992, 1997, 2009).

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands.  Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 30 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 44,000 people (more than 34,000 in the U.S.).  Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.5 million in the U.S.) in 2015 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.  

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Contact:
Rick Hesterberg (859) 351-4780
Ashley Chatham (859) 473-3709
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.