Toyota's American plants slashe down Toyota Tundra pickup production

In the face of rising fuel price in the USA, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) has declared to cut its Tundra pick up production in four months. In an interview, Toyota’s spokesperson, Mike Goss, said that the company will slow down its Tundra production at its Princeton and Indiana plants. However, he did not provide any details of the production slowdown. San Antonio’s truck line will stop production for 14 days between the current month and the end of October. The Princeton factory is cutting down six scheduled production days between the current month and the end of August. The Princeton plant produces Tundra and Sequoia sport. Bloomberg reports:

Toyota ``is considering all kinds of options to make sure we're making the best use of all our production facilities,'' Goss said. There are no plans to concentrate all Tundra and Sequoia assembly at the San Antonio plant, Goss said.

Tundra sales dropped 32 percent in May as U.S. customers shifted away from large pickups and SUVs to smaller, more fuel- efficient vehicles. Higher gasoline prices, combined with a sluggish economy hurt by falling home values, have contributed to a 22 percent dip in sales of large pickups this year and a 32 percent drop for large SUVs.

The declaration of reduction in Tundra first came in March 13^th. Fortunately, neither of the two Toyota plants will lay-off its full-time assembly workers. However, 200 temporary employees at the San Antonio plant will be eliminated in the next few months.

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