April 22, 2008
Toyota Subsidiary Will Stop Making Hino Trucks in Calif.
TOKYO – Toyota subsidiary Hino Motors
will stop making commercial trucks at one of its U.S.
plants as surging oil prices and the U.S. credit crisis squelch demand,
according to USA Today. Truck production at TABC, a Toyota parts maker in Long
Beach, Calif., that has an assembly line for Hino trucks, will be moved to Hino’s
other U.S. plant in West Virginia by July.
Hino
produced 4,800 trucks at the California plant in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31. That plant will continue to make parts
for Toyota. By
abandoning California production, Hino’s annual
production capacity in North America will dip
to 4,500 trucks a year from 9,500. Hino is 50.11 percent owned by Toyota Motor, Japan’s
No. 1 automaker.