Toyota to Use In-House Gigacasting at New China EV Plant

What changed

Toyota plans to develop and use its own gigacasting machinery at a $2 billion Lexus electric-vehicle factory under construction in Shanghai. The plant is scheduled to begin production in 2027, marking Toyota’s first use of giant presses that mold large chassis sections in one piece.

Toyota is testing the technology in Japan. Its China sales fell 19% in the first eight months of the year.

Why it matters

Gigacasting could let Toyota replace dozens of welded parts with a single large casting. That can reduce production time, equipment, labor and cost, giving the company a sharper manufacturing tool as local Chinese brands dominate the country’s electric-vehicle market.

The choice also exposes the trade-off. The presses are expensive, less flexible when producing different models, and can make accident repairs costlier because replacement sections are larger. Toyota has not disclosed potential equipment suppliers or how widely it expects to use the technology.

The Shanghai plant is therefore more than a new factory. It is a test of whether Toyota’s in-house approach can help it rebuild competitiveness in China without giving up the manufacturing discipline that has defined the company. If the system works at scale, it could reshape how Toyota builds electric vehicles there; if not, the investment may leave it with costly machinery and fewer options for adapting models.