In Brief : Toyota to Build Pickups in State

Toyota Motor Corp. will invest about $250 million to build a small-size pickup truck assembly line at its joint venture with General Motors Corp. in Fremont, Calif., next spring, a leading economic journal reported today.

The Japanese journal, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, said Toyota will hire 700 members of the United Auto Workers Union for the new assembly line. Toyota could not be reached for comment immediately.

The newspaper said the Japanese company plans to produce pickup trucks at the facility at an annual rate of 100,000 units, starting in the summer of 1990.

Toyota’s decision is aimed at overcoming the sharp appreciation of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar, which affects the competitiveness of Japanese trucks sold on the U.S. market. The United States also charges a 25% tariff on Japanese truck imports.