The 2014 Toyota Highlander. Photo courtesy Toyota.

The 2014 Toyota Highlander. Photo courtesy Toyota.

Toyota plans to further increase production of its Highlander mid-size SUV in 2014 and will invest $30 million in its Princeton, Ind. plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, Inc. (TMMI), for this purpose. The automaker added this project will create 200 new jobs at TMMI.

 In February 2012, the company said it would increase production at the plant to 350,000, and with this new investment, Toyota said its goal is to increase Highlander production by an additional 15,000 units.

According to Toyota, TMMI builds a gasoline version of the Highlander and will begin producing the hybrid model before the end of the year. The automaker said investment will go toward building new gasoline model Highlanders. Toyota said this investment will increase the annual capacity of the plant, which builds the Highlander, the Sequoia full-size SUV, and the Sienna minivan, to 365,000 vehicles by late 2014.

The automaker discontinued manufacturing the Highlander in Japan and is working toward its goal of localizing manufacturing.

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