Japan's Hino to end output in California plant: official

Japan's Hino to end output in California plant: official
AFP - 1 hour 48 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Hino Motors, an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp., said Thursday that it will halt truck production at its California plant as the US economic slowdown hits demand for commercial vehicles.

Truck production at the plant will end in July and be transferred to Hino's second US factory in West Virginia that opened last year, said company spokesman Hidenobu Tezuka.

"Material costs are rising and US consumption has fallen due to the subprime crisis. The output at our plant was not what we had expected," he said.

The move will roughly halve Hino's North American truck output capacity from 9,500 units a year to 4,500, Tezuka said.

But the plant will not be shut as it will continue to make car parts for Toyota, Japan's largest automaker which is on track to overtake US giant General Motors as the world number one.

Hino's California plant has assembled parts for trucks for the North American market since October 2004. The company also has a plant in Ontario, Canada.

Japanese automakers have enjoyed brisk profits in the US market in recent years, helped by firm demand and a weak yen, but the US credit crunch and a falling dollar are now weighing on their earning prospects.

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日野自、米工場を閉鎖・２拠点に集約、日本メーカーで初

　国内トラック最大手の日野自動車は米カリフォルニア州の工場を閉鎖する。北米に３つあるトラック工場を２つに集約。景気減速で北米の商用車需要は急減しており、余剰な生産能力を絞り込む。日本の自動車メーカーが北米の組み立て工場を閉鎖するのは初めて。北米ではトヨタ自動車や米大手が減産に動いているが、販売低迷が長引けば工場閉鎖が続く可能性もある。

　日野自は北米で米カリフォルニア州、ウエストバージニア州、カナダ・オンタリオ州に３つの工場を持つ。7月からカリフォルニアの生産を停止し、ウエストバージニア工場に移管する。これにより同社の北米でのトラック生産能力は年間9500台から4500台に半減する。