US: Toyota to build Prius at new Mississippi plant
By: Automotive World staff writer, Thursday, July 10, 2008, AutomotiveWorld.com
Toyota has axed plans to build the Highlander SUV at the Blue Springs plant currently under construction in Mississippi, in favour of the next generation Prius.
The suprise move shows how quickly OEMs are having to react to rapidly shifting buyer preferences in the US market, as SUV sales continue to fall and small- and hybrid cars gain ground.
Instead of being Mississippi-built, the Highlander will be given to the troubled Princeton light truck plant in Indiana from late 2009 - some six months ahead of its former scheduled start-up date at Blue Springs, in fact. The company says it will suspend production of the Tundra pick-up and Sequoia SUV at this facility from 8 August until November, with all Tundra build to be consolidated at the newer San Antonio plant in Texas from spring 2009.
TMS has been battling to satisfy orders for the Prius, meanwhile, with the car's US sales down 26% in June, after an even larger drop in May due, Toyota says, to production limitations in Japan. The third generation model is expected to have its world premiere at the Detroit motor show in January 2009 and reach the US for its 2010 model year in Q3, 2009. Build at Blue Springs will start in "late 2010", the company says.
The firm further notes that workers at the Princeton plant as well as those at its Huntsville powertrain facility in Alabama, which supplies the larger engines for its US-built models, will "continue to be provided work".
Toyota currently has 13 plants in North America, not including Blue Springs and another manufacturing complex under construction in Ontario.
Published on Thursday, July 10, 2008
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