Toyota Seeks to Cut Cost, Speed Production of Hybrids With Stand-Alone Facilities
By John O'Dell August 18, 2010
Toyota Motor Corp. is investing nearly $12 million to retool an idled engine assembly line at a plant on the southern island of Kyushu in order to produce engines for the mid-size Toyota SAI and Lexus HS 250h hybrids as part of an effort to reduce manufacturing time and costs, the Nikkei business news service reports.
Engines for Lexus HS 250h will be built where caris assembled under new integrated productrion plan.
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The engines now are assembled at a plant nearly 380 miles to the northeast and must be shipped to the Kyushu facility, where Toyota builds the Lexus RX and HS250h and Toyota Highlander and SAI hybrids.
The automaker also intends to begin an integrated production system for hybrids at a factory at the northern end of the mainland of Honshu, according to the Nikkei report.
Analysts at IHS Global Insight say the moves are in line with Toyota's strategy to consolidate manufacturing facilities to cut costs and improve its ability to get vehicles into dealers hands as quickly as possible.
The new engine line, expected to be completed by mid 2012, will be capable of annual production of 150,000 1.8- and 2.4-liter hybrid engines.
We're all for anything that can help reduce costs and remove bottlenecks that create product shortages, particularly when at least some of the savings are passed on to consumers.
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