Toyota's truck subsidiary, Hino Motors Ltd., will stop making trucks at one of its U.S. plants as surging oil prices and the credit crisis squelches demand, a company spokesman said Thursday.
Truck production at TABC, a Toyota parts maker in Long Beach, Calif., which has an assembly line for Hino trucks, will be moved to Hino's other U.S. plant, in West Virginia, by July, Hino spokesman Hidenobu Tezuka said.
Hino, 50.11 percent owned by Japan's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., produced 4,800 trucks in business 2007, which that ended March 31, at the California plant. That plant will continue to make parts for Toyota.
Hino's West Virginia plant has an annual production capacity of 2,500 vehicles, but it produced only 300 trucks in business 2007, Hino said.
Hino also has a third North American plant, in Ontario, which produced 1,300 trucks in business 2007.
By abandoning the California production, Hino's annual output capacity in North America will dip to 4,500 trucks a year from 9,500.
Hino's North American sales have declined lately, battered by soaring fuel prices and an economic slowdown set off by the subprime mortgage problem. Regional sales for business 2007 dropped 19 percent to about 6,600 trucks from 8,200 trucks the previous year.
Hino sales have been booming elsewhere in the world, including Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East, but the U.S. market has been in decline, Tezuka said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.