Toyota to Hike N. American Production : Automobiles: The rising yen is seen as the driving force behind the decision to boost output by 48%.

Toyota Motor Corp. is boosting car production in North America by 48%, meaning that within three years, nearly two-thirds of the Toyotas sold in North America will be built there.

Toyota, Japan’s largest auto maker, said Tuesday that it is making the move partially because of pressure on profits caused by the decline of the U.S. dollar against the yen.

The auto maker also said it plans in 1995 to shift production of all pickup trucks sold in the United States from Japan to the Toyota-General Motors joint manufacturing plant in Fremont, Calif., New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.

NUMMI produced 98,000 pickup trucks last year, while 86,000 were imported from Japan, Hagerty said.

The yen has soared more than 20% over the last two years against the dollar, meaning that revenue earned in dollars is worth less when sent back to Japan. The rise also makes Japanese wages and materials more expensive in dollar terms.

Other major Japanese manufacturers have also been increasing overseas production.

Japanese auto makers have been forced to raise overseas prices to make up the difference in the yen. As a result, some Japanese models now cost several thousand dollars more in North America than comparable American-made cars.

Last month, Toyota announced average price increases for most of its 1995 models of 3.3%, or $572, compared to initial 1994 prices. Honda and Nissan have announced similar increases, all blaming a higher yen, and Honda also plans to increase U.S. production.

Toyota plans to increase North American production to 790,000 vehicles in 1996, up from 533,000 in 1993.

That means more than 60% of its cars sold in the United States in 1996 will be North American-made, up from 46% in 1993, Toyota said.

Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., plant is expected to boost employment from 5,500 as of July to about 6,000 in 1996. Toyota spokesman Brendan Hagerty said Toyota does not plan any layoffs in Japan because of the move.

While the yen was part of the reason for the U.S. production boost, Hagerty said there is a more fundamental one.

“Toyota really believes that to service a market well you have to produce there,” he said.

Tuesday’s production announcement came a day after the first Avalon, a large sedan designed specifically for the U.S. market, rolled off the assembly line at the Kentucky plant. All Avalons, which replace the Cressida model, are to be built in Kentucky.

Overall, as a result of the increases in North American production, Toyota plans to cut its exports from Japan to the United States from 554,000 vehicles in 1993 to about 400,000 in 1996.

Japanese auto makers also face a new U.S. regulation taking effect in October that will require cars sold in the United States to bear a sticker showing the percentage of North American-manufactured parts they contain. Japanese manufacturers fear that American consumers will prefer cars with high North American content.

The United States is Toyota’s largest market.