Toyota's $34 Million KEI-01 Line Lands in Princeton to Dodge a 25 Percent Tariff

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Toyota Motor North America will invest $34 million at its Princeton plant to build the KEI-01, the first model under the Scion by Toyota brand as it returns, with production beginning in the latter half of 2027 and roughly 50 jobs being added. Plant president Jason Puckett said work has already started on the 660cc, right hand drive utility truck, which is capped at 25 mph and classified as a federal low speed vehicle. Building it in Princeton rather than importing it sidesteps the 25 percent tariff on light trucks that has blocked every other kei truck from the U.S. market, and the low speed vehicle classification lets Toyota skip full passenger car crash certification, a path no competitor is using for a new right hand drive truck. At roughly $680,000 in capital per job, three to four times Toyota's typical Indiana expansion ratio, this looks like tooling for a new line that could later host other Scion concepts, not a simple headcount add. The truck will sell only to fleet customers through select dealers at launch. For background on the scale of Toyota's Princeton footprint, see our earlier coverage of Toyota's $1 billion Indiana investment.

Impact

Building this in Princeton, not importing it, sidesteps the 25% Chicken Tax on light trucks that has blocked every other Japanese OEM's kei truck from the U.S. market, and classifying the KEI-01 as a Low-Speed Vehicle under FMVSS No. 500 also lets Toyota skip full passenger-car crash certification, a regulatory pathway no competitor is using for a new right-hand-drive truck. At roughly $680,000 in capital per job, 3-4x Toyota's typical Indiana expansion ratio, the spend signals this is tooling for a new assembly line that could later host the Scion SxS or BKE concepts, not a simple headcount play.

Watch

Whether Toyota's fleet-only pilot converts to retail sales after the second-half-2027 launch, and how many states beyond Oregon restrict the KEI-01's road access under local LSV rules.

For the huddle

Could a fleet-only, low-speed-vehicle regulatory pathway let us bring a lower-cost specialty vehicle or equipment line to market without full federal crash-test certification?

Possibly, if your product can be capped at 25 mph and sold initially to fleet buyers rather than retail customers, that classification lets Toyota skip passenger car crash testing entirely, and it is worth having your engineering team check whether a similar product fits the same federal low speed vehicle definition.

Sources

Toyota Indiana to build revived Scion brand’s first vehicle, adding about 50 jobs in Princeton · duboiscountyfreepress.com

From the brief, November 12, 2026

Caterpillar's $890 Million Lafayette Expansion Tax Abatement Passes With Zero New Jobs
Toyota's $34 Million KEI-01 Line Lands in Princeton to Dodge a 25 Percent Tariff
Governor Braun Ties the Toyota Deal to Japan Trade Diplomacy
NexPoint Closes Alabama Plant, Makes Mount Vernon the Only Western Hemisphere Polycarbonate Producer
Simtra Opens $250 Million Building H Expansion in Bloomington

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