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Toyota offered $146.5 million to build Lexus ES in Kentucky

Toyota posted a media advisory yesterday saying that Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, and Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, would be making a production announcement tomorrow in New York City, and Automotive News reports that the automaker will be announcing a plan to domestically produce the Lexus ES. According to the report, numerous plants are competing to build the ES in North America, and the State of Kentucky has offered the automaker up to $146.5 million to build the luxury sedan at the Georgetown, KY assembly plant.
If Georgetown gets the ES, which has been built in Japan since its debut in 1989, it would be built alongside the Toyota Camry, which is somewhat ironic since in our review of the 2013 Lexus ES350, we wrote that this ES finally says "goodbye to its Camry roots." In order to get the whole amount offered, the article states that Toyota would have to invest $531.2 million and hire 570 full-time workers at the plant, which doesn't sound all that unreasonable since the plant would require an additional 50,000 units of annual production, not to mention the fact that the Georgetown facility is already at its capacity for building the Camry.

Car and Driver shows off awesome 1960s ads

Someone must have recently rediscovered the keys to the archives at Car and Driver, and the access has been put to good use. Following last month's fantastic look at automotive ads from the '50s, there's now a new gallery running from March 1960 through December 1969. This collection provides a great overview of a decade full of iconic cars. If you're a fan of Carroll Shelby, particularly his Mustangs, then there's a lot to love among this group. One ad from July 1965 aimed to sell the GT350, but with an ocean of text and a tiny picture, it probably could've used a once-over by Don Draper's team. By December '65, the copywriters ironed out the problems with a spot proclaiming boldly "Shelby GT350 is 'Son of Cobra.'" The company offered some great accessories, too. For those into European motoring, there's a humorous attempt to sell the Alfa Romeo Giulia as both a racecar and family hauler. Toyota also boasts about the winning record for the 2000GT. Among the best text comes from BMW for lines like: "What's BMW got? The most advanced high-performance engine in any production car, for a cruising speed of 100 mph." Of course, Volkswagen's famous "Lemon" ad for the Beetle also gets its due here. Separately, each of these ads is fascinating, but taken together they tell the story of a great decade of motoring. Go give them all a read at Car and Driver. Related Video: News Source: Car and DriverImage Credit: GM Heritage Center Marketing/Advertising Read This Alfa Romeo BMW Ford Toyota Volkswagen shelby alfa romeo giulia shelby gt350 toyota 2000gt

Toyota Matrix not long for this world?

According to a report from AutoGuide, Toyota doesn't have plans to replace the aging Matrix hatchback in the United States after this year. If true, the timing coincides with the replacement for the Corolla, on which the Matrix is based, with that car slated to get its first complete redesign since 2006 (2008 in the US market).
We'd love to tell you how many Matrix models were sold by Toyota in the United States last year, but the automaker chooses to bundle Matrix sales with Corolla sales, so we have no idea. That said, we have to assume sales of the hatchback don't contribute much overall to the total number of Corolla-based machines.
We're also unsure if Toyota will choose to exit the youth-oriented compact hatchback market entirely, or if the automaker will rely instead on its hybrid Prius line and Scion models like the xB and xD.