The slumping U.S. SUV market forced Toyota to delay the opening of its new Highlander plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, but the delay could actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Japanese automaker.
The plant opening delay originally pushed the new Highlander launch back until 2010, but a new plan has moved the next-iteration of the popular SUV up to 2009.
Instead of waiting for the new Tupelo plant to open before producing the next-generation Highlander, Toyota will move production to its now-idled Princeton, Indiana plant. The Princeton plant – which produces the Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV – was idled on August 8th with no plans to resume production until mid-November.
“We need to get those people working. That’s the bottom line,” Steve St. Angelo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., told Automotive News. “And that’s why it made more sense to send the Highlander to Indiana, because the tools are ready, and we can get those people working versus keeping it in Mississippi.”
In addition to getting Toyota employs back to making vehicles, the move will save Toyota the cost of retooling its Mississippi plant just one year after it begins production and will also clear production capacity at the Tupelo plant for Prius production.
