The company’s Lexus brand will only sell electric cars by 2030 in China, Europe and the United States.
The plant, which will employ 1,750 people, will be located outside of Greensboro.
Amid a shortage of new cars, many buyers have been forced to kick the tires of overlooked models and brands.
The electric-car maker has weathered the global shortage of semiconductors better than more established rivals.
A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.
The auto giant bet on hydrogen power, but as the world moves toward electric, the company is fighting climate regulations in an apparent effort to buy time.
The country’s stance would seem to put it on the wrong side of market trends. But with its huge investment in gasoline-electric hybrids, it has big reasons to proceed slowly.
A series of announcements has not only reversed the decline of Canada’s auto industry, but has also set it on the path to electrification.
Carmakers, government agencies and investors are pouring money into battery research in a global race to profit from emission-free electric cars.
Carmakers say new models should also help lift the industry in 2021, after a 15 percent decline in its slowest year since it recovered from the Great Recession.