Toyota Ramping Up Tacoma/Tundra Production, and There's 'Flexibility' in the Lines
Toyota’s Senior Vice President for Operations Bob Carter has been quite the chatty cathy Thursday. According to Reuters, the automaker is planning to boost production of its Tundra and Tacoma to help meet demand for trucks next year, in part, because supplies of the trucks are so low today.
Toyota has roughly 20 days supply of its Tundra and only 10 days supply of its new Tacoma, which has sold like hell since it was introduced last month.
“If you were to ask any of our U.S. dealers what they want, I’d say every one of them would say ‘More trucks,'” Carter told Reuters. Or more Tacomas?
Michael Kroll, a spokesman for Toyota, told us that the Tacoma and Tundra have “ultimate flexibility” at the automaker’s San Antonio plant to produce one or the other.
And the San Antonio plant is getting help too.
“Tacoma production is also supplemented by our plant in Baja, which last April added a third shift,” Kroll said. “In addition, the San Antonio plant is adding an alternative workforce, which will involve hiring an additional 200 or so team members by next summer to help with getting even more output from the plant.”
(If you’re looking at sales stats for the Tacoma and Tundra, you might think the automaker would want to consider turning up the wick on the Tacoma. Just a thought. — Aaron)
So that new Tacoma should be easier to get next year.
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Wow, 3 Honda Ridgelines sold last month. Why are Tundra sales flat? It was refreshed just last year - the Ram and Silverado/Sierra are older from a design standpoint, and the Sierra/Silverado was also, comparatively speaking, a refresh. Tundra has lowest ATP IIRC of the big trucks - or at least it did 12-18 months ago (IIRC).
Total lie. Production is maxed. Toyota isn't dealing on their truck lineup. The Tacoma is hot and the Tundra doesn't sell so dealers aren't buying many like they are Camry's & Highlanders.
It seems to me that Toyota is now realizing it doesn't rule the midsize perch with ease. The Colorado/Canyon along with the up and coming Frontier and the possibility of an Amercianised global Ranger must have forced Toyota to worker harder to earn their keep in the pickup market. The Tundra is also going to require some serious changes to keep competitive, especially with the new Titan. I wonder if Toyota will introduce an "XD" version of the Tundra? It doesn't need to have the Cummins ISV either. Toyota could modernise it's 4.5 litre turbo diesel fitted to the Landcruiser. The 4.5 V8 diesel is reliable, but it's underpowered by todays diesel. Toyota will need another 60hp and over 100ftlb of torque out of it to make it competitive. I do believe Toyota is repositioning itself in the pickup manufacturing side of the business. This can only be good for the consumer. Freedom of choice breeds competition and the consumer is the winner. More competition is needed in the US light commercial vehicle sector.
They need to double 4Runner output, having only 3-4 on the lot while there are 10-12 Tacomas on the same lot is unacceptable. Then again they don't even stock Sequoia's or Land cruiser's.