Toyota Motor Corp expects to build the next remodeled popular Prius hybrid car in the United States.
The world's best-selling gasoline-electric car should be built in Mississippi, but finally Toyota decided to build the Corolla sedan instead in the United States.
"The main components for the Prius -- such as the motor and battery -- are not mature enough for local production. We expect that they'll be ready with the next remodeling," explains Atsushi Niimi, Executive Vice President of Toyota.
According to Reuters, Atsushi Niimi, who currently oversees production as well as regional operations in North America and China, says the company would decide in due course where in the United States it would make the fourth-generation Prius, expected around 2016.
Toyota plans also to remodel the Tundra. According to pickuptrucks.com, the next Toyota Tundra will arrive by 2014, just in time to take on all-new full-size light-duty pickups expected from GM, Nissan and Ford.
The Tundra hasn’t been so far the success that Toyota expected. With a strong 5.7-litre V-8, the Tundra was designed to compete with full-size pickups from Chrysler, Ford and GM. Toyota was so confident that it invested more than $1 billion to build a dedicated assembly plant in Texas with the capacity to build 200,000 Tundras a year in addition to a second Tundra factory in Indiana that could produce 100,000 annually.
200,000 trucks have been sold in the first year, but suffering from the effects of both the economy and high-profile quality and safety issues, less than 80,000 were sold in 2009. In response to lower-than-expected demand, Toyota consolidated all Tundra production in Texas – shifting Toyota Highlander production to its Indiana factory – and also moved production of the midsize Toyota Tacoma to the Tundra’s plant in Texas to soak up the extra production capacity. Also according to PickupTrucks.com, the Tundra platform-based Sequoia will be a thing of the past at the end of this current generation.
Currently, the main near-term concern for Toyota is the pace of recovery in the U.S. market, which for the carmaker would likely be slow.
Atsushi Niimi says: "If you look at unemployment, housing, and other economic indicators there's not much good news. I think it will take time for the market to recover," adding he did not share views that the U.S. market could recover to above 12 million units next year or to 14-15 million in 2012.
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| Photo: Toyota |
The world's best-selling gasoline-electric car should be built in Mississippi, but finally Toyota decided to build the Corolla sedan instead in the United States.
"The main components for the Prius -- such as the motor and battery -- are not mature enough for local production. We expect that they'll be ready with the next remodeling," explains Atsushi Niimi, Executive Vice President of Toyota.
According to Reuters, Atsushi Niimi, who currently oversees production as well as regional operations in North America and China, says the company would decide in due course where in the United States it would make the fourth-generation Prius, expected around 2016.
Toyota plans also to remodel the Tundra. According to pickuptrucks.com, the next Toyota Tundra will arrive by 2014, just in time to take on all-new full-size light-duty pickups expected from GM, Nissan and Ford.
The Tundra hasn’t been so far the success that Toyota expected. With a strong 5.7-litre V-8, the Tundra was designed to compete with full-size pickups from Chrysler, Ford and GM. Toyota was so confident that it invested more than $1 billion to build a dedicated assembly plant in Texas with the capacity to build 200,000 Tundras a year in addition to a second Tundra factory in Indiana that could produce 100,000 annually.
200,000 trucks have been sold in the first year, but suffering from the effects of both the economy and high-profile quality and safety issues, less than 80,000 were sold in 2009. In response to lower-than-expected demand, Toyota consolidated all Tundra production in Texas – shifting Toyota Highlander production to its Indiana factory – and also moved production of the midsize Toyota Tacoma to the Tundra’s plant in Texas to soak up the extra production capacity. Also according to PickupTrucks.com, the Tundra platform-based Sequoia will be a thing of the past at the end of this current generation.
Currently, the main near-term concern for Toyota is the pace of recovery in the U.S. market, which for the carmaker would likely be slow.
Atsushi Niimi says: "If you look at unemployment, housing, and other economic indicators there's not much good news. I think it will take time for the market to recover," adding he did not share views that the U.S. market could recover to above 12 million units next year or to 14-15 million in 2012.
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| Photo: Toyota |