Toyota Moves To Retool Faster Than The Competition And Analysts Predicted

In the first six months of the year, Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. sales executives watched with alarm as demand tumbled for one model after another in the lineup. First it was the big Tundra pickup, then large SUVs and luxury models and by June, demand had slipped even for midsize, car-based sport utilities like the Highlander that Toyota was preparing to build at a new plant in Mississippi.

Toyota's manufacturing specialists had ordered the tooling and assembly equipment to produce the Highlanders, but the machines had not arrived. The factory outside Tupelo consisted of four walls and a roof.

At that moment, Toyota executives saw an opportunity to make a swift adjustment to their North American production network, which was producing more trucks and SUVs than consumers wanted to buy.

For the first time in its 50-year history in the United States, the Japanese automaker was confronting the same challenges that Detroit's automakers face on a bigger scale. "This is a shift of monumental proportions that we have never seen before," said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, in an interview.
 

carguy68 - 8/11/2008 3:05:55 PM

0 Boost

so!

Agent009 - 8/11/2008 3:42:56 PM

0 Boost

Huu76- Toyota is pondering the release of up to 3,000 US jobs at this time.

Shredmo - 8/11/2008 3:52:35 PM

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Remember this article?

http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota-Trims-800-Japanese-Jobs-Due-To-U-S-Sales-Slump-33273/

Bored - 8/11/2008 6:22:47 PM

+3 Boost

@ shredmo,

the complete link got cut off, but I found it. You missed the key words in that article, JAPANESE and CONTRACT, as in "laid off about 800 contract workers in June and August to reduce production of vehicles bound for North America". Not AMERICAN employees and not PERMANENT employees. The article went on to say that "However, a spokesman at Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc. said it will rehire 500 contract staff in the autumn or afterward to prepare to increase output, indicating it expects the production adjustment to end in several months".

@ Agent009,

Can't find the article that says "Toyota is pondering the release of up to 3,000 US jobs at this time". Please advise.

_43LE - 8/11/2008 4:18:54 PM

+2 Boost

I am interested to know how other automakers are adjusting to the changing times.

EL34 - 8/11/2008 7:38:48 PM

-2 Boost

Toyota are a bunch of tools.

:)