Woodstock's Toyota plant has been chosen to build the electric version of the company's popular RAV-4 SUV, the company announced Friday.
Ray Tanguay, chairman of Toyota Manufacturing Canada, says "Today we are making history with the new RAV EV."
The provincial government expects the move will secure 6,500 existing jobs at the Woodstock and Cambridge plants, and thousands of supplier jobs.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says "Toyota's decision to choose Ontario for the RAV-4 EV is important for all of us. For Woodstock, it means secure jobs making the kind of vehicles that the world wants. For Ontario, it shows that innovative companies know our province is the place to build clean tech products."
According to Toyota, the location was chosen because the company wanted to build the new electric version in the same location as the original.
The RAV4 EV will be the first electric vehicle produced for Toyota in North America. It will go about 160 kilometres on a single charge and include batteries and power-train components made in California by Tesla Motors.
Last month, the federal and provincial governments gave Toyota nearly $142 million in grants and loans to upgrade the plants in Woodstock and Cambridge.
Tanguay says "New technology keeps evolving. If you are not in it you're out of it. If you're in it you can evolve and grow with it."
Woodstock Deputy Mayor Ron Fraser says the move is good for the city and the environment, "We can't keep burning fossil fuel forever, because we can't afford it."
McGuinty says the goal is to have one in 20 vehicles on the road be electric-powered by 2020.
"It costs you 70 bucks to fill up your car in gas, to travel the same distance with electricity $7. Well okay, you know what, now you've got my attention and I think you've got the attention of pretty well every family in the Province of Ontario."
The province is also offering incentives for people who choose to buy or lease electric cars.
Production of the new RAV-4 EV is expected to start next year and it will be available in the U.S., but it's unclear if or when it will be available for purchase in Canada.
How much it will cost to produce each vehicle and how many will be made is also up in the air. Toyota says it will depend on market demand.
How much the vehicle will cost for buyers, and when consumers can take a test drive, is also still being figured out.
With files from The Canadian Press.
