Toyota Trims Tundra, Sequoia Production

Toyota Trims Tundra, Sequoia Production

By Joseph Szczesny

Toyota Motor Corp. has confirmed it is planning to cut production at truck-assembly plants in Texas and Indiana because of the economic and vehicle-sales slowdown.

Toyota is trimming production at its San Antonio plant that builds the full-size Tundra pickup truck, introduced a year ago, and at its Princeton, Ind., plant, which builds a mix of trucks and full-size sport-utility vehicles, including the newly redesigned Sequoia.

Toyota will not say how much it is cutting production at those plants.

“No one is being laid off or losing their job. But they are slowing the assembly line,” said Toyota spokesman Joe Tetherow. He added sales aren't exactly bad but demand for trucks generally is soft. He said he didn't know if Toyota would change its forecast of selling 200,000 Tundra pickups this year.

Sean McAlinden, vice president of research at the Center For Automotive Rsearch in Ann Arbor, Mich., said he wasn’t surprised Toyota had cut production. “Sales of pickup trucks have been very soft,” he said.

Toyota opened the new pickup plant in San Antonio in the fourth quarter of 2006 in a bid to end General Motors, Ford and Chrysler dominance of the pickup market. Toyota, however, fell short of its bid to sell 200,000 new Tundra in 2007. Pickups, which are widely used by construction workers, farmers, ranchers and utility workers, account for nearly 15 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.