Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is an automobileassembly plant in Lafayette, Indiana, which began as a joint venture between Subaru Corporation subsidiary Subaru and Isuzu Motors Ltd. After Isuzu withdrew from the venture, SIA continued to manufacture Subaru models, and later began manufacturing the Toyota Camry. The plant, which was Subaru Corporations's sole overseas plant until 2019, was the subject of the 1995 book "On The Line at Subaru-Isuzu" by Laurie Graham, about plant working conditions. The facility is located southeast of central Lafayette, at 5500 State Road 38 E. — also known as the Bataan Memorial Highway.
History
Subaru and Isuzu had formed a joint venture, Subaru-Isuzu Automotive Inc., on March 17, 1987, to share production facilities at a new plant in Lafayette, Indiana, between Indianapolis and Chicago. The plant began producing the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu P'up in October 1989. The factory was given $98 million in state and local tax incentives when it opened, and these remain in place. After Isuzu suffered severely dwindling sales by 2002, Subaru dissolved their joint agreement with Isuzu. On December 20, 2002, Subaru purchased Isuzu's interest in the venture for one dollar, and Subaru then renamed the facility "Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc." In addition to its Subaru production, the company continued to produce the Isuzu Rodeo and Honda Passportbadge engineered twins, plus the Isuzu Axiom, through to July 2004. Isuzu ended non-commercial vehicle sales in the United States in 2009. General Motors divested its stake in FHI in 2005. New minority shareholder Toyota Motor Corporation began producing 30,000 to 40,000 Camrys per year at the plant in 2007 to meet excess demand then satisfied by imports from Japan. Most North American-market Camrys are assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky. Camry production at SIA officially began March 9, 2007, with the first Camry built by SIA rolling off the assembly line on April 20, 2007 and ended May 27 2016. From that moment on, production of Camry vehicles was consolidated to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., in Georgetown, Kentucky in the United States. As a result of Isuzu's former corporate agreement with Honda, the plant used to produce the Passport, a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo. The production Passport, along with that of the Camry, means that SIA was the only plant to have produced automobiles from Japan's two largest automakers -- Toyota and Honda. As the popularity of Subaru vehicles has increased in the United States the plant's production volume has increased as well. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, Subaru expects production to increase to 410,000 vehicles. SIA employed 6,250 people as of February 2020. The plant offers guided toursfree of charge on Mondays and Wednesdays except during its summer shutdown. On May 4, 2004the factory became the first Zero Landfill manufacturer in the United States. On September 30, 2009, the factory produced its 3 millionth vehicle, a 2010 Subaru Outback 2.5i in Steel Silver Metallic. On December 9, 2016, the 5 millionth vehicle was produced at SIA, a blue Subaru Outback.
