Toyota to suspend production at two key U.S. plants

SAN FRANCISCO — Toyota Motor Corp.
will reportedly suspend production at two key U.S. plants to keep
inventory from ballooning as mounting recalls have slammed demand for
its vehicles.

The shutdowns follow closely on the heels of the weeklong closure of six North American assembly plants and will impact Toyota’s Kentucky and Texas plants for a total of up to 14 working days, according to published reports.

A senior executive said a day earlier that the
Japanese automaker has repaired about 500,000 of the 2.3 million
vehicles recalled over a potentially sticky gas pedal and restarted
sales of thousands more that were off the market.

The company previously estimated that the sales woes will end up costing 100,000 in vehicles sales and around $2 billion.

Toyota has been
slammed by millions of recalls in recent months, the latest hitting
last week when 8,000 2010 Tacoma trucks joined the growing list due to
possible cracks in a drive shaft component.

In total, Toyota has recalled more than 8 million cars and trucks, including nearly half a million Prius hybrids.

Toyota sales in the
U.S. dropped by almost 16 percent in January, falling to the lowest
level in more than a decade after the company suspended sales of a big
percentage of its lineup.

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