Lexus to build its first China-made EV SUV in Shanghai in 2027

Toyota's luxury brand Lexus is turning to China for its next electric car. The company has confirmed that a new electric SUV will be developed and produced at its new plant in Jinshan, Shanghai, and will go on sale in China in 2027, Electrek reports. It will be the first Lexus built in China in more than two decades.

A new kind of Lexus factory

The Shanghai site is the first Lexus factory built from the ground up outside Japan, and it is wholly owned by Toyota rather than run through a local joint venture. Toyota broke ground in June 2025 and first outlined the project earlier that year as a company to develop and build Lexus battery-electric vehicles and batteries in Shanghai.

According to Electrek, the plant will use cost-cutting production methods such as gigacasting, where large sections of the body are cast as single pieces. Output is planned at around 1,000 vehicles a month in 2027, rising to "tens of thousands" in 2028.

Why China first

The move breaks with Toyota's habit of developing new models in Japan. Chinese brands such as BYD can take a car from concept to showroom in about two years, roughly half the time Toyota typically needs, and Lexus describes its strategy as "with China, for China".

Toyota needs the speed. Its sales in China fell almost 20% year on year last month, the eighth monthly decline in a row, and its nine-month total of just over 1.05 million vehicles was down 18.9%, Electrek notes.

What we don't know yet

Lexus has not named the model or released its battery size, range or price. For now, the brand's main electric SUV in global markets is the RZ, which got a refreshed 2027 model year with up to 301 miles of EPA range (our report). Whether the China-built SUV will be exported has not been announced.

If you are weighing an electric SUV today, our explainers on LFP vs NMC batteries and hybrid vs plug-in hybrid vs EV cover the choices that matter most.