Looks like they officially stuck a fork in NUMMI

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/Toyota_votes_to_close_NUMMI_plant.html

 

yes it has been announced already, nummi will be the first toyota plant to completly shut down, other ones will reduce production

 

It's over.

 

expect pricing on all toyota vehicles now to rise.

 

Some of the news articles are saying NUMMI will "close by March 2010". I wonder if that means March 2010, next week, or next month.

Who wants to bet a 2010 Tacoma will be damn near unavailable next summer?

 

Especially since Toyota is cutting production by 10% all over the World. toyota should have the San Antonio plant tooled by then, or ramp up the Mexico plant to meet demand.

 

Nevermind what I said, Toyota's official release says March 31, 2010.

Tokyo — TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced it will end its Corolla and Tacoma production contract with New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) on March 31, 2010 and shift production of those vehicles to Toyota wholly-owned facilities. Following the end of the contract, Tacoma pickups will be produced at Toyota’s manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., which specializes in trucks. Corollas will be sourced from its Cambridge, Ontario, Canada plant, as well as Japan to meet near-term demand. This will enable an uninterrupted supply of vehicles to dealers and customers in North America...

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/manufacturing/document/TMCreleaseNUMMI090827_FINAL.pdf

 

Yep... it's true. Here's article... and the AP Press Release it references.

Supposedly Tacoma production is moving to the new Tundra plant in Texas that is currently running significantly under-capacity. I wouldn't expect any Tacoma shortages in 2010. Toyota is too smart to shoot themselves in the foot like that. They'll get this line up & running in Texas in no time.

 

Let me put it this way.

I personally don't want a 2010 Tacoma from NUMMI. After today, those guys lost their motivation to do a good job.

I also don't want one of the first Tacomas built in San Antonio. Every factory in every industry has teething problems when they first get going. I don't want to be a guinea pig for the San Antonio plant.

 

I think demand for the Tacoma and Tundra are down too....it just doesn't seem like it on a Tacoma board...

 

I hate to hear this news.

 

It's not a 100% "Toyota" plant and never has been. GM owns the building and the work force.

 

My NUMMI build ship date was 8/21/09.

 

There are too many vehicles produced in the world. Lower volumes will create higher demand, and this will cause prices to rise. May not be a toyota issue per se, but it seems they are all reducing production, even the brands that sell....

 

Right now Toyota has to average 70% capacity in all of their plants world wide in order to break even. They won't even begin to turn a profit until the plants are averaging 80+%. Right now N. American capactiy is at about 59%. By NUMMI shutting down, Toyota will be able to shift production to TMMC and TMMTX, increasing their capacity...getting them closer to that magic 80+%.

One thing that's being overlooked is GM's roll in all of this. They told Toyota that they no longer wanted the Pontiac Vibe and was not interested in rebadging it has another GM vehicle either. They then basically went to court to nullify their contract with Toyota. Given Toyota's capacity issues it only made sense for Toyota to back out of NUMMI as well. This way they can focus more resources on their own N. American plants. It's just an unfortunate business decision for the workers. IMO GM has to take some responsibilty for this as well.

 

Confirmed... NUMMI Tacoma production is moving to San Antonio.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/28/toyota-moving-tacoma-production-to-san-antonio/