A new Toyota Motor Corp. assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont., that opens on Dec. 4 will halt production for two days just weeks later as part of another cutback in North American production by the auto maker.
All Toyota's assembly and engine plants in Canada and the U.S. will close Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 as the company reacts to slow sales in the U.S. market caused by the credit crisis.
The new Woodstock plant, which will make RAV4 crossover utility vehicles, and another plant in Cambridge, Ont., that assembles Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX350 models will be closed those two days as part of the reduction in output, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said Wednesday.
“We're thinking the earliest there's going to be any improvement is the middle of next year,” Mr. Goss said.
The credit crisis, which sent overall U.S. sales sinking to levels not seen since the end of the Second World War, sideswiped Toyota in October when its sales fell 26 per cent. Corolla sales edged ahead 2 per cent, while sales of the RX luxury sport utility vehicle slumped 37 per cent and RAV4 sales fell 20 per cent.
Toyota sales in Canada rose 9 per cent in October and pushed the auto maker to a record annual level with two months left in the year.
But the production cutback is another indication of how the credit crisis and the economic slowdown in the U.S. are affecting even the world's healthiest auto makers and causing economic dislocation in Canada. About 85 per cent of the vehicles assembled in Canada are exported to the U.S. market.
Toyota had been gaining market share and enjoying increased sales in the U.S. earlier this year as Americans switched out of sport utility vehicles and into more fuel-efficient cars.
“October results again confirmed that sales continue to fall short of our planned production levels,” Toyota's North American purchasing arm said in a memorandum to suppliers.
Among the cuts to U.S. operations are a 50-per-cent trim in production of Sienna minivans at a plant in Indiana, Mr. Goss said. That reduction is indefinite, he said.
Production of Camry mid-sized sedans at a plant in Kentucky will be reduced, he added, although the plant will continue to operate on two shifts.
At all the plants, full-time employees will be kept on and report for training or plant improvements.
Earlier this month, Toyota said profit for the July-September quarter plunged 69 per cent and downgraded its full-year profit forecast to about one-third of last year's result. At that time, officials said that the auto maker was also assessing its manufacturing operations.
With files from Associated Press
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