TORRANCE, CA – Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that it will suspend U.S. production of full-size pickups and SUVs for three months because of falling sales in the wake of $4-a-gallon gas. It will also, in a move to satisfy the growing demand for hybrids, start building the gas-electric Prius in the United States at a Mississippi plant that will open in 2010, according to www.chicagotribune.com.

Toyota said it would halt production of the Tundra on Aug. 8 in plants in Princeton, Ind., and San Antonio, as well as Sequoia SUV production in Princeton. When production resumes in November, both will be made only in San Antonio. The about-face on Tundra comes after sales plunged 53 percent in June and dealer supply grew to 125 days.

Toyota typically keeps inventories under 60 days, the level the industry considers ideal.

The Highlander midsize SUV, which was scheduled to be built at a plant under construction in Blue Springs, Miss., will move to the Indiana plant. The Mississippi plant will build the Prius when it opens in late 2010 to meet growing demand for hybrids.