Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On June 27, construction officially began on the Lexus New Energy Vehicle Project in Shanghai's Jinshan District, marking a major milestone in Toyota's electrification strategy.
Located in the Shanghai Bay Area High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the project is scheduled for completion in August 2026, with production set to commence in 2027. The plant will have an initial annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles. More importantly, this marks Lexus' first localized production project in China and is expected to inject strong momentum into Jinshan's ambition of building a 100 billion yuan-level new energy vehicle (NEV) industrial cluster.
Since the strategic cooperation agreement between the Shanghai Municipal Government and Toyota Motor was signed on April 22, the project reached groundbreaking in just over two months—demonstrating what is being referred to as the "Lexus speed" for major foreign investment projects. Jinshan District facilitated the process through a three-tiered service mechanism involving municipal-level coordination, district-level tracking, and dedicated service officers. Notably, the registration of "Lexus (Shanghai) New Energy Co., Ltd." was completed in just one day by the local market supervision bureau.
As a cornerstone of Toyota's global electrification push, the fully Toyota-owned Lexus plant in Jinshan spans 1,692 mu (1.28 million square meters) and represents a total investment of 14.6 billion yuan. The project will not only manufacture battery electric vehicles but also include R&D for pure electric vehicle models, solid-state battery production, and battery recycling technologies.
More than 95% of the supply chain will be localized, with high-quality suppliers from the Yangtze River Delta region already approved through Toyota's rigorous factory audit process, covering key areas such as batteries and components.
The Lexus project is poised to become a catalytic force for industrial upgrading in Jinshan. In addition to direct investment, the project's technological spillover is expected to elevate the entire regional supply chain. Multiple suppliers have already expressed clear intentions to establish a presence in the area, with the initiative projected to create over 1,000 new jobs.
Once operational, the plant will serve both domestic and international markets, leveraging a closed-loop "R&D–manufacturing–export" model. This approach not only reinforces Shanghai's role as a global innovation hub for the automotive industry but also accelerates the transformation of the Yangtze River Delta's NEV sector from a manufacturing stronghold to a technology powerhouse.
