Toyota to build Prius in U.S., scale back trucks

Toyota Motor Corp. will start producing the Prius in the U.S. for the first time as the Japanese automaker adjusts its U.S. manufacturing operations to meet demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The company said Thursday that it would start producing the gasoline-electric hybrid in late 2010 at a plant being built in Blue Springs, Miss. Toyota already builds a hybrid version of the Camry sedan in Kentucky, but this will be the first time the Prius, which the company has been selling for more than a decade, will be built outside Japan and China.

Toyota will suspend production of the Tundra pickup truck in San Antonio and the Sequoia sport utility vehicle at its Princeton, Ind., plant for three months starting Aug. 8 because of declining demand. In the spring, it will stop producing Tundras in Princeton and will consolidate all truck production in San Antonio.

The Princeton plant will build the Highlander SUV, which originally was slated for Mississippi. The Princeton plant will continue to make the Sienna minivan throughout the shutdown, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said.

Toyota said it made the moves amid a continuing decline in demand for trucks and SUVs because of high gas prices and the weak U.S. economy. Toyota’s U.S. sales fell 21% in June compared with the year before, an even steeper decline than the industry slump of 18%.