Toyota will delay opening a new $1.3 billion SUV plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, a new report finds. The Japanese automaker was originally scheduled to open the new production facility in late 2009 or early 2010, but the opening will likely be delayed until at leas mid-2010.
The reason for the delay is a weakening U.S. economy, a slumping auto market and the continued erosion of the dollar’s value against the yen — which is shrinking the automaker’s profit margins — according to Automotive News.
“We made adjustments within a certain range of time,” Toyota Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita told the AP. “The change wasn’t that critical.”
The plant was originally slated to have the capacity to build 150,000 Highlander SUVs annually, but it remains unclear if that capacity will be reduced.
Although Toyota says the plant will be opened in mid-2010, Japan’s Nikkan Kogyo reports the plant will be delayed until 2011.
Toyota announced earlier this month that it expects its profits to decline this year, which would be the first drop-off in nine years.
