Toyota Motor Corporation plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Fukuoka, Japan, and supply its batteries to a factory that manufactures luxury Lexus brand vehicles, according to the Nikkei business daily on Friday.
The world’s top-selling automaker would seek to make the island of Kyushu where Fukuoka is located a central part of its supply chain for battery-powered vehicles and an export base for Asia, the newspaper said.
A Toyota spokesperson confirmed that the company was aware of the report but had not made any announcements about it.
According to the spokesperson, Toyota has been implementing a number of initiatives to increase its EV battery production capacity.
Toyota makes Lexus vehicles at the Miyata plant of its subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu.
The automaker has previously said it will introduce EVs employing next-generation batteries globally from 2026, manufactured by its EV-focused unit BEV Factory.
The company is targeting sales of 3.5 million EVs annually by 2030, with just under half of those made by the BEV Factory unit. It sold 104,000 EVs in 2023.
The amount Toyota would spend on the battery plant and the start date for its construction have yet to be finalised, according to Nikkei, which did not say where it got the information.
According to the newspaper, Primearth EV Energy, another Toyota subsidiary that manufactures batteries for hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric vehicles, will operate the plant.
