Toyota delays opening new U.S. plant

Toyota Motor Corp. is indefinitely delaying the start of production at a plant in Blue Springs, Miss., as the top Japanese automaker copes with the downturn in the auto industry.

The plant, a $300-million US investment so far, was scheduled to begin production in 2010 and make the Prius hybrid.

Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota's U.S. arm, said Monday the plant's construction is about 90 per cent complete, and Toyota will finish the building.

However, installation of the factory's equipment and machinery — "the most time-consuming" element of construction — has been delayed indefinitely.

The roughly 100 people who have been hired at the plant will not lose their jobs and will be assigned other duties, Goss said. "Those people's jobs are safe, and we'll find things for them to do," he said.

Although Toyota's U.S. sales have held up better than those of its Detroit-based counterparts, the entire industry has seen a steep plunge.

Toyota reported its auto sales in the U.S. fell 34 per cent in November, while sales across the industry sank 37 per cent. The company's sales are down 13 per cent for the first 11 months of the year, compared with the same period in 2007.

Sales of Toyota's once-popular hybrids plunged amid the collapse in gasoline prices.

The Prius, once a brisk seller when a gallon of gas fetched well over $4 US a gallon this summer, saw its November sales plunge 48 per cent. Toyota's other hybrids, like gas-electric versions of the Camry and Highlander, are facing even bigger sales declines.

The Mississippi plant was initially to be up and running in late 2009 or early 2010, but earlier this year Toyota pushed the date back to mid-2010 after seeing the slowdown in the U.S. auto market.