Toyota Motor Corp. is investing 1.4 billion Canadian dollars ($1.1 billion) in its Canadian operations to build traditional and hybrid RAV4 sport utility vehicles, banking on the nation's manufacturing sector amid a cloud of uncertainty from Nafta talks.

The automaker's Canadian unit made the announcement Friday afternoon at its plant in Cambridge, Ontario, alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The expansion there and in nearby Woodstock will create 450 jobs, supported by CA$110 million each from the federal and provincial governments. The two Toyota plants west of Toronto now employ about 8,000 people and made more than 600,000 vehicles last year.

The investment will allow Canada to build a "hybrid ecosystem," becoming the largest producer of hybrid Toyotas in North America and supporting Canada's supply chain of auto-part markets, Trudeau said. "This is a great day for the auto sector," he said.