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.