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Toyota Boshoku America has officially opened its first-ever “smart plant” in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. (That’s just a couple hundred miles away from Toyota’s largest factory in the world, located in Georgetown, Kentucky.) The $225 million project is one of the most significant investments in the region’s growing automotive sector to date. Sitting on nearly 355,000 square feet, the advanced manufacturing operation brings 157 new jobs to the Kentucky area and officially began production in November. Company executives said in a press release that the Hopkinsville operation strengthens Toyota Boshoku’s North American network, which is headquartered in nearby Erlanger, Kentucky and employs more than 14,000 people throughout both North and South America.

The plant uses robotics, automation and data-driven systems to produce seat tracks, seat recliners, and other motorized components for Toyota vehicles built in Tennessee and Canada. It came to life with support from both state and local incentives, including Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority packages that require the facility to maintain an average hourly wage of $28.49. In 2025, the site also secured two industrial revenue bonds totaling more than $230 million.

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Inside the smart plant, an array of robotics retrieve, transport, and stage materials throughout the building. It’s a lot less manual handling than a typical plant, but it makes for more efficiency overall. Still, company leaders argue the plant’s 150+ employees are proof that automation doesn’t result in fewer jobs. As production volume increases, the facility expects to expand its workforce toward a goal of roughly 230 employees (For context: a nearby Toyota Boshoku facility in Salem, Kentucky, employs about a thousand people).

Going forward, parts produced at the Hopkinsville plant will be dispersed throughout Toyota’s manufacturing network. That includes the hybrid version of the world’s best-selling car, the RAV4, which is being built in Georgetown, Kentucky. Officials say that the opening of this smart plant only deepens Toyota’s decades-long economic footprint in the state. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, seeing as Toyota Motor and its suppliers have invested more than $11 billion in Kentucky since 1986. Next up for the company is another massive investment in U.S. manufacturing, this time in West Virginia.