Toyota replacing pickups and SUVs with Camrys

It’s not only American carmakers seeing dwindling sales of pickup truck and SUV models. Industry leader Toyota is also seeing its inventories pile up and has responded by cutting production at its Princeton plant in Indiana. Inside sources have now revealed that Toyota could use the under-utilized capacity to build more Camry sedans, the third top selling vehicle in the U.S. last month behind the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.

The Camry is currently produced at two sites in the U.S., at Toyota’s Georgetown facility in Kentucky and at a dedicated assembly line at Subaru’s Lafayette in Indiana. Speaking with Automotive News, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said the company is currently looking at several options but is yet to make a final decision.

While sales of the Camry topped out at 51,291 units for the month of May, sales of the Tundra pickup, which is produced at the Princeton, plunged 31.5%.

Already GM and Ford has announced drastic cuts to their SUV and pickup truck production and Honda, too, has revealed plans to shift production of its top selling Civic to under- utilized plants in the U.S., which normally build heavy SUVs and pickups.