Toyota Feeling Global Slump--curtails production

Not directly Prius news but interesting all the same. No one is invincible.

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Source: The Japan Times On-Line

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning its first long-term closure of a domestic assembly line as auto sales fall to their lowest level in more than 30 years.

Toyota, which cut domestic output 49 percent through June, will reduce output by about 220,000 units by shutting down the line at its Takaoka plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, from the first quarter of fiscal 2010 through the second half of calendar 2011, spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said Wednesday.

The automaker is considering reducing its annual global production capacity by around 700,000 units from 10 million to deal with the persistent auto slump, the company said.

As part of the effort, Toyota is also studying a plan to suspend factory operations in Britain's Derbyshire for a production cut of another 150,000 units. The automaker will soon announce the closure of New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., a California-based joint venture with General Motors Co., for an output reduction of 300,000 units.


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