Where Are Toyota RAV4s Made? (Solved & Explained)

The Toyota Rav4 is a crossover SUV that combines the features of the Toyota 4Runner and the Toyota Tacoma.

It offers a roomy cabin, a large luggage space, excellent gas mileage and smooth handling.

Let’s find out where these vehicles are made.

Where Are Toyota RAV4s Being Made?

Recent RAV4 models are produced in Japan, Canada, China, Russia, and USA. The only recent addition to the list of factories that manufacture the RAV4 is the Georgetown plant in Kentucky, United States.

The first generation (1994-2000) of the RAV4 was produced at the Motomachi and Tahara plants in Japan and the Zhuhai and Guangdong plants, China.

Only the Toyota factories in Tahara and Nakagusa, Japan built the second generation (2001-2005) of the RAV4.

The third generation of the vehicle saw the introduction of the Woodstock factory, Canada, to the series of RAV4 factories.

Also, Toyota resumed the making of the RAV4 in Changchun, China in the third generation (2005-2012).

For the fourth generation (2013-2018), the factories responsible for building the RAV4 were located in Russia, China, Canada and Japan. In Japan, Toyota made the RAV4 vehicles at the Takaoka and Nakagusa plants.

The production of the RAV4 fourth generation vehicles in Canada was carried out in Woodstock, Ontario. Russia’s St Petersburg factory and the Changchun factory in China also made the list.

Alongside all the factories involved in past production of the RAV4, Toyota included the Georgetown factory in the USA in the fifth generation.

Please read our article about important Toyota RAV4 statistics.

It’s also worth mentioning that the later Rav4 models (post-2019 – 5th gen) have higher ground clearance. You can check the ground clearance for each Toyota Rav4 model here.

Are RAV4s for the US Market Produced in the US?

Toyota RAV4 vehicles are produced in the Georgetown plant, Kentucky, United States of America. However, this was not always the case.

While countries like China and Japan have always been part of the locations where RAV4 was produced, the USA was only included recently.

Are They Assembled in the US?

The United States is one of the countries where the RAV4 is assembled.

Toyota’s Georgetown factory in Kentucky, USA, is in charge of assembling the vehicle.

How Can You Check Where a Specific RAV4 was Produced?

Just like every other Toyota vehicle, you can determine the country where your car was produced by checking the car’s Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

The VIN is a unique set of 17 characters, all of which point to basic information about your vehicle.

The first character on the VIN refers to the country where your car was manufactured.

Depending on whether the country in question is located in America, this character could be a letter or a number.

While letters represent countries outside America, numbers refer to countries on the American continent.

Since this car is only produced in 5 countries, the first character on your VIN could be any of these numbers or letters:

• J refers to Japan
• L refers to China
• Any of the combinations between X0-X3 refers to Russia
• 2 stands for Canada
• 4 or 5 stands for the United States of America

Make sure to also read our article about driving the Toyota Rav4 in snow and winter.

Are Japanese or European Built RAV4 Better?

Both the Japanese and European versions of the RAV4 are excellently built. None is superior to the other. In fact, the Japanese RAV4 received the award of the best car in Japan in 2010.

While the Russian built RAV4 has never got an award, other vehicles produced in the same Russian factory as the RAV4  have received accolades.

So, we can infer that the Russian-built and Japanese-built RAV4 most likely have similar levels of quality.

Where Is the RAV4 Designed?

All the generations of the Toyota RAV4 were designed in Japan by Japanese designers.

For instance, Tatsuya Sonoda designed the fifth generation of the Toyota RAV4.

Where Is the Toyota RAV4 Made for the Australian Market?

For the Australian market, the RAV4s come from the Toyota factories in Japan. At least for the last two years, according to the manufacturer plates.

Look into our article which reads about 3 Most Common Problems With Toyota RAV4

Where Is the Toyota RAV4 Made for the Canadian Market?

The fleet of Toyota RAV4s sold in the Canadian market is manufactured locally. The factory that makes these vehicles is located in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.

Also check our article about 5 differences between Toyota and Lexus.

Where Is the Toyota RAV4 Made for the UK Market?

The Toyota factories Janapn supplies the RAV4 to the UK Market and (probably) the rest of Europe.

Is Toyota Planning to Move Its Production?

Toyota does not intend to move production of the RAV4. Even in the past, Toyota did not shift production from one factory to another. Instead, it expanded production of the RAV4 to several other countries.

At the onset, Toyota only manufactured the RAV4 in Japan and China. Over time, the company included factories in Russia, China, Canada, and the USA in the vehicle’s production.

Is Toyota Hiring or Firing People in the US?

Toyota will hire new members of staff in its US branch this year.  The company has already released announcements of job vacancies online.

However, Toyota has suffered a plunge in revenue because of a worldwide dip in demand for cars. To make up for these losses, it will cut down the wages of 5,000 temp employees.

Toyota also intends to take out two days’ worth of pay from the salaries of full-time workers.

Is Toyota an American Company?

Toyota is not an American company. The company was founded in Japan on August 28, 1937.

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