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Toyota is considering building the next version of its top-bound Rav4 SUV in the United States, three people familiar with the case, said, became the latest vehicle manufacturer to rethink the supply chains to reduce the hit from US tariffs on imported vehicles. Toyota creates the current version of the popular SUVs in Kentki, Canada and Japan. It has basically planned to export the new RAV4 from Canada and Japan to the United States, but now it is considering making it even in Kentki, according to people, all of whom refused to be identified because the information is not public. The 25% tariff on imported cars of President Donald Trump will reduce the impact for the Japanese vehicle manufacturer and to avoid potentially high costs in volatile yen currency, to avoid potentially high costs in cases of ups and downs in volatile yen currency.
Toyota is ready to unveil 2026 Rav4 – its first redesign after the fifth generation 2019 model – at the end of this year and then it will gradually introduce it to various markets around the world, one of the people said. This has not yet announced the exact time of the US roll-out.
Toyota has not yet finalized its production plans, said people said. Any production change cannot be applied quickly and requires long-term plan, one of them said, due to time consummer and involvement in rateing manufacturing facilities and adjusting supply chains.
If the automaker proceeds with the Kentaki plan, it will probably start production there in 2027, one of the people said. Despite the results with Kentki, there is a possibility of maintaining the overall vehicle production of Toyota in Canada, people said.
Toyota said in a statement to Reuters that it continuously studied ways to improve their manufacturing to customers to serve the best and provide stable employment for employees.
“We have nothing to announce at this time and will not comment on speculation,” said that when asked about the plan to produce a new version of RAV4 in Kentki.
According to market research firm Jato Dynamics, Rav4 was the best-selling vehicle in the US last year, holding Ford’s F-150 pickup truck for years. The Japanese automaker sold over 475,000 Rav4 in the US last year, with fifth of its total vehicle sales there.
It was not immediately clear how many of the new Rav4 Toyota would produce in the United States. It has 11 plants in the US, including auto-parts plants, and produced about 1.3 million vehicles in 2024, which is more than half of its 2.3 million American car sales. Toyota said that this month he would continue to run his operations normally and focus on reducing fixed costs, taking more rigorous steps such as stopping vehicle prices in response to tariffs.
Global vehicle manufacturers, including the US-based, produce cars in other countries, face a potential high-cost audience from 25% levy on imported cars launched this month. Reuters said on Tuesday that Nissan plans to reduce Japanese production by 13,000 vehicles from 13,000 vehicles of its top-bound US model. Honda plans to make its next generation of civic hybrids in the US state of India, rather than avoid possible tariffs in Mexico, Reuters have reported. Trump said on Monday that he was considering modifying the auto levy as the vehicle manufacturers “need a little time”.
Japanese vehicle manufacturers have been manufacturing American production for decades. Toyota says that its total investment in the US has reached around $ 50 billion in the last few years. Tokyo’s top trade negotiator, Riocy Akajwa, on Wednesday met with Trump and US officials in Washington to discuss the tariff. Trump said there was “great progress” in the talks when he took amazing steps to interact directly with the Japanese business delegation.
