On June 27, with the groundbreaking of the excavator in the Shanghai Bay Area High-tech Zone, the Lexus new energy project officially entered the construction stage. As the core layout of Toyota’s electrification strategy, the project is expected to be completed in August 2026 and put into operation in 2027, with an initial annual production capacity of 100,000 vehiclesNew energy vehiclesIndustrial clusters have injected strong momentum.
Image source: Kingsoft Rong Media Center
Since the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between the Shanghai Municipal Government and Toyota Motor on April 22, the project has started construction in just over two months, creating a “Lexus speed” for the landing of major foreign-funded projects. Through the three-level service system of “overall coordination of municipal special classes + full follow-up of district-level special classes + personal guarantee of service specialists”, Jinshan District has built a closed loop of full-chain services covering business negotiations, administrative approvals, and project construction. For example, the market supervision department completed the “Lexus (Shanghai) in just one dayNew energyLimited Limited” registration.
As a key part of Toyota’s global electrification strategy, the first phase of Lexus Shanghai Jinshan’s wholly-owned plant will provide 1,692 acres of land, with a total investment of 14.6 billion yuan, and will simultaneously lay out pure electric vehicle research and development, solid-state battery production and battery recycling technologies.
It is worth noting that the project will use more than 95% of the local supply chain, and high-quality enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region have passed Toyota’s “factory inspection” process, covering core areas such as batteries and parts.
The Lexus project will become the singularity of Jinshan’s industrial upgrading, which will not only bring direct investment, but also drive the overall leap of the regional industrial chain through technology spillovers. At present, a number of supply chain enterprises have clarified their intentions to settle down, which is expected to drive more than 1,000 new jobs.
After the project is put into operation, the products will be oriented to both China and overseas markets, and this closed-loop model of “R&D-production-export” will not only strengthen Shanghai’s position as a global automotive innovation hub, but also promote the new energy vehicle industry in the Yangtze River Delta from “manufacturing highland” to “technology highland”.
From Tesla’s Gigafactory to Lexus’ wholly-owned project, Shanghai is attracting global car companies to deeply participate in the transformation of China’s auto industry with an open attitude. As the “Lexus speed” becomes the new normal, this land may give birth to more new paradigms leading the development of the global automobile industry.
