Toyota has begun production at its new battery plant in North Carolina, and says it will make up to $10 billion in additional investments in the US over the next five years. Tetsuo Ogawa, Toyota Motor North America's president and CEO, said this was an important moment for the company. The new plant, which already cost Toyota almost $14 billion, is the company's 11th factory in the US. But the North Carolina facility is the company's first in-house battery plant outside Japan. The world's biggest carmaker will use the plant to make batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. US President Donald Trump first suggested that Toyota would be making large investments in the US when he visited Japan in October. "Go out and buy a Toyota," Trump said at the time. But the news agency Xinhua reported that while Toyota's investment is seen as a positive step forward, the situation for Japanese carmakers is still "extremely challenging." It said that the company is under pressure to invest in the US market while still struggling with Trump's tariff policies. Tariffs on Japanese vehicles were cut to 15% from 27.5% in September, but the new figure is still six times the previous rate. At the start of November, Toyota reported a 7% drop in profits for the period from April to September, compared to the same period in 2024. Japan's other big carmakers also struggled, with Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi posting net losses for the same period. The US market is big business for Japan's carmakers. But as they feel new financial pressure, tariffs and US investment pressure may also reduce their ability to do research and development in Japan, Xinhua suggested. However, there has been some good news for at least Toyota in America, as its US sales rose by almost 10% in the third quarter of 2025, on sales of over 1.3 million vehicles.