Toyota cutting truck production to match sales

Just like their U.S.-owned counterparts, Toyota's trucks are not selling like they used to. Sales of the Tundra fell 34% in May, a figure similar to Ford and GM's full-size truck sales downturns. Cuts in production will not be as deep as the U.S. carmakers, however, since Toyota isn't as reliant on the cargo-haulers for sales volume.

A 14-day idle of the Tundra plant in San Antonio, Texas is expected to set right inventories of the full-size pickup, while a six-day shutdown of the Tundra and Sequoia SUV plant in Princeton, Indiana will help as well. More days may be cut from the Princeton plant's schedule as need arises, reports Automotive News. In addition to the idling, Toyota also plans to decrease the rate of production at its plants to help reduce overstock.

Toyota's overall capacity to produce the Tundra pickup sits at about 300,000 annual ly, and in 2007, its first year of sales, the company managed to ship almost two-thirds of that amount to customers. The new cuts will put production even further below capacity, though the company did not say by how much.