Toyota to cut jobs: limit production at SA Plant

[JoeChalupa]

Toyota to cut job in SA (http://www.ksat.com/automotive/16635318/detail.html)

SAN ANTONIO -- Toyota officials informed Bexar County Tuesday of its intention to reduce its temporary employment needs by 200 workers, according to a source at the county's Economic Development Office, KSAT 12 News learned late Tuesday afternoon.

The move at the company's Tundra truck production plant is directly related to the increase in fuel costs, the declining economy and a decline in truck sales, according to the source. The county learned of the company's intentions via a letter sent to city and county officials as well as Aerotech, the company that supplies the plant with some of its temporary employees, according to the source.

Refresh this page and stay tuned to KSAT 12 News for further details.


200 is much better than thousands.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

countdown for the "blame bush" post.

[degenerate_gambler]

200 is much better than thousands.


Not as big of hit as I thought they'd take.

[ashbeeigh]

I had heard something about Toyota trying to develop a hybrid Tundra. :wow

[Extra Stout]

Toyota already is retooling the Indiana Tundra plant to make more Camrys, and now the SA plant is cutting back.

The era of the fullsize pickup as anything but a work/farm/tow vehicle is ending quickly.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Toyota already is retooling the Indiana Tundra plant to make more Camrys, and now the SA plant is cutting back.

The era of the fullsize pickup as anything but a work/farm/tow vehicle is ending quickly.

Nothing official, but I remember Toyota officials also saying when the SA plant opened that the plant could be converted as well, so I'm guessing that might eventually be an option they take.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Some extra info we got after JC posted.

====

UPDATE, 4:50 p.m.: The company informed employees of production adjustments Tuesday, according to Toyota spokesman Mike Goss. The company will slow down the rate of production and implement a series of non-work days, Goss said. Full-time employees will be paid and will work on "plant improvment activities" on non-production days, Goss said.

About 200 temporary jobs will be eliminated over the course of the summer, Goss said. The job and production cuts are due to declining truck sales and a sluggish economy, Goss confirmed.

[Pistons < Spurs]

This sort of thing is happening all over. Just heard this morning that one of the Ford Truck plants here in Mich will be 'idled' for 9 weeks starting on the 23rd, due to high gas prices and dwindling SUV sales. This particular plant makes Expeditions and Navigators.

[Re-Animator]

File this lie under the other lies.........

The Alamo Dome will bring an NFL team

The SBC center will make the east side economy Boom!

The Lotto will provide all kinds of new computers and books for the kids.

410 will be ready by 2004

blaaa........baaaaa.......bla......

Toyota has been looking for an excuse to leave this hot ass crime infested city and now they have it. Look for them to cut the work force by 50% come September.

as Manny would say........"book it!"

[T Park]

huh?

[Twisted_Dawg]

File this lie under the other lies.........

The Alamo Dome will bring an NFL team

The SBC center will make the east side economy Boom!

The Lotto will provide all kinds of new computers and books for the kids.

410 will be ready by 2004

blaaa........baaaaa.......bla......

Toyota has been looking for an excuse to leave this hot ass crime infested city and now they have it. Look for them to cut the work force by 50% come September.
as Manny would say........"book it!"

Yeah..sure they are going to walk away from a $1.250 billion plant they just opened last year.

[Southwest Texas Fan]

I had heard something about Toyota trying to develop a hybrid Tundra. :wow

I read about that but they decided to trash that idea until 2012 or 2013. Honda is already developing a fuel cell car, but the price is around $300,000. Within 10 years the price should come down to $100,000. Sounds like a great idea but damn that ride is going to be expensive.

[Anti.Hero]

The era of the fullsize pickup as anything but a work/farm/tow vehicle is ending quickly.

lmao no it's not.

Only someone who WANTS it to end would make such a stupid comment.

[Anti.Hero]

I had heard something about Toyota trying to develop a hybrid Tundra. :wow

They should be. Chevy already has them.

[mouse]

Yeah..sure they are going to walk away from a $1.250 billion plant they just opened last year.


Looks like they have a foot out the door. Major Auto makers move and close down all the time. Why should Toyota be any different?

They may not completely shut down for at least 5 years but leave it to San Antonio and the constant changing Zoning laws, the aquifer recharge zones, and city council and the way they change the city tax. If Toyota does stay it will be the only major operation other than the Spurs to survive the bullshit San Antonio manufactures on a monthly basis.

What i don't get is what kind of Saki was the that Jap drinking when he decided to let a Mexican build a Toyota :lmao

[Extra Stout]

Looks like they have a foot out the door. Major Auto makers move and close down all the time. Why should Toyota be any different?

They may not completely shut down for at least 5 years but leave it to San Antonio and the constant changing Zoning laws, the aquifer recharge zones, and city council and the way they change the city tax. If Toyota does stay it will be the only major operation other than the Spurs to survive the bullshit San Antonio manufactures on a monthly basis.

What i don't get is what kind of Saki was the that Jap drinking when he decided to let a Mexican build a Toyota :lmao
They'll just retool it to build their new oval-shaped subcompact: the Toyota Beaner.

[mouse]

They'll just retool it to build their new oval-shaped subcompact: the Toyota Beaner.

Camry?




Canitstart? :lmao

[gameFACE]

The Beaner would still run on gas...........

[mouse]

The Beaner would still run ...........

Not if you offer him a job!

[balli]

lmao no it's not.

Only someone who WANTS it to end would make such a stupid comment.

Are you fucking crazy?

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/head-in-the-sand.jpg

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN0338197620080603?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales tumbled in May as consumers spurned pickup trucks and SUVs in the face of record gasoline prices.

The dramatic increase in car sales appears to be one of the most profound shifts in automotive buying patterns in more than a decade," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda.

GM sales plunged 30 percent, Ford sales fell 19 percent and Toyota's fell 8 percent. Sales were adjusted for an additional sales day compared with the year earlier.

GM also announced plans to close four pickup and SUV plants in North America and expand output at two car plants to align its production to a market increasingly dominated by concern about fuel efficiency.

[TDMVPDPOY]

they just created another 500 jobs in australia by going ahead with building toyota camrys hybrids down under

[mouse]

Only an Aussie really knows what goes on down under. :lmao

[mouse]

If only they could turn Bullshit into fuel Bush alone could fuel America for years to come.


I am looking out for you........
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/RackTheMouse/RTM-3/outside-small.jpg

[TDMVPDPOY]

Only an Aussie really knows what goes on down under. :lmao

the only thing wrong about it, is that they have already made there decision even b4 the govt step in to strike a deal....so the govt wasted $60million in grants to the car maker just to persuade them to build there next generation of cars down under, now toyota dont know what to do with the 60million....ppl think they should donate it to charity....

[mouse]

How about Moving back to Japan, and let Americans drive Muscle cars like we where born
to drive?

http://indonesianmuscle.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/billwchevelle056.jpg

[Extra Stout]

lmao no it's not.

Only someone who WANTS it to end would make such a stupid comment.
I regret to inform you that observable reality does not conform to your opinion.


Industrywide, sales of pickups are down 40 percent in the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period last year.

[to21]

I blame this, rising gas prices, a county-wide ban of fireworks, and road construction on the Spurs getting bounced in the WCF.

[CosmicCowboy]

Toyota is cutting back because sales are down. This has been happening in the industry for as long as I can remember...There is a huge bubble of relatively new used trucks and SUV's being dumped into the used car market right now as city slickers trade down...heck...a richer friend of mine just bought a hard loaded 40K mile 2007 King Ranch F350 4 door power stroke with all the ranch hand accessories etc. for $25,000. It was a $65,000 rig last year.

When oil stabilizes in the $90 range people will start buying trucks again.

[johnsmith]

When oil stabilizes in the $90 range people will start buying trucks again.

Oh, so never then. Got it.

[TDMVPDPOY]

you really think oil would go down to $90 a barrel?

[CosmicCowboy]

when OPEC says that they would like to see oil in the $80-$90 range and that there are no fundamental reasons for oil to be at $150 you can reasonably expect that oil will be coming down at some point in the future. It won't ever be at $18 again and it might even spike to $200 before this speculative frenzy is over but OPEC is smart enough to realize that sustained $150-$200 oil will spark a global recession/depression and kill their volume.

[Extra Stout]

When oil stabilizes in the $90 range people will start buying trucks again.


you really think oil would go down to $90 a barrel?


Oh, so never then. Got it.


when OPEC says that they would like to see oil in the $80-$90 range and that there are no fundamental reasons for oil to be at $150 you can reasonably expect that oil will be coming down at some point in the future. It won't ever be at $18 again and it might even spike to $200 before this speculative frenzy is over but OPEC is smart enough to realize that sustained $150-$200 oil will spark a global recession/depression and kill their volume.
$135 oil right now has a lot to do with the large influx of money that has come into commodity investing after fleeing stocks and real estate. It probably is correct that $90 oil is what the fundamentals say it should be, at least today.

If it were speculation, I would expect to see millions upon millions of barrels of oil going into storage. Instead, reserves are stable or declining.

According to the conventional wisdom, oil prices already should have triggered a recession. What we're seeing instead is the theorized "decoupling" of developing economies from the United States. In the past, when the U.S. sneezed, the world got a cold. Not this time. Not coincidentally, some of the nations with the strongest growth are the ones with lots of oil, like Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In addition, there is no certainty that Saudi Arabia has the excess capacity they claim to have. They are famously opaque about their operations, and their behavior suggests maybe they don't have it. Now if they admitted that, everyone would freak out that Peak Oil had already passed and you'd see a run on oil that would make the past year seem like a gentle breeze.

Interestingly, in EIA documents they don't post on the internet, the peak in global conventional oil production is listed as 2005, and the peak in conventional liquids is predicted for 2010. Now that's just conventional oil. People who are paying attention know that recent breakthroughs in in situ bitumen processing mean that the recoverable reserves in Canada and Venezuela just skyrocketed, enough that the next generation of Dick Cheneys are already scheming how they're going to convince the American public that we need to depose Hugo Chavez, and that we need to encourage Alberta to secede from Canada. The decoupling we're seeing is quite the ominous trend for American power as well, so they need to find a way to screw up some of these developing economies.

Now the fundamentals predict that we should have $90 oil today, but far from stabilizing, that should go up and up in the future. While we're going to see enormous investment in bitumen, even when capacity quadruples in the next 10 years, that's still only 4.4 mbpd. Conventional oil is plateauing while newly emergent economies keep demand growing ever higher (recent finds in Brazil, etc. are a drop in the bucket). Unless we engineer some sort of demand destruction in other countries, supply isn't going to keep up at $90 a barrel.

(Yes, I know much of what I described involves morally monstrous activities by the United States. I'm not endorsing it. Alliterative, but Godwin's-Lawbreaking turns of phrase such as "Albertan Anschluss" almost made it into the post. But I guaran-damn-tee you the corporate oilgarchs in the U.S. don't sweat such scruples.)

[mouse]

$135 oil right now has a lot to do with the large influx of money that has come into commodity investing after fleeing stocks and real estate. It probably is correct that $90 oil is what the fundamentals say it should be, at least today.

If it were speculation, I would expect to see millions upon millions of barrels of oil going into storage. Instead, reserves are stable or declining.

According to the conventional wisdom, oil prices already should have triggered a recession. What we're seeing instead is the theorized "decoupling" of developing economies from the United States. In the past, when the U.S. sneezed, the world got a cold. Not this time. Not coincidentally, some of the nations with the strongest growth are the ones with lots of oil, like Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In addition, there is no certainty that Saudi Arabia has the excess capacity they claim to have. They are famously opaque about their operations, and their behavior suggests maybe they don't have it. Now if they admitted that, everyone would freak out that Peak Oil had already passed and you'd see a run on oil that would make the past year seem like a gentle breeze.

Interestingly, in EIA documents they don't post on the internet, the peak in global conventional oil production is listed as 2005, and the peak in conventional liquids is predicted for 2010. Now that's just conventional oil. People who are paying attention know that recent breakthroughs in in situ bitumen processing mean that the recoverable reserves in Canada and Venezuela just skyrocketed, enough that the next generation of Dick Cheneys are already scheming how they're going to convince the American public that we need to depose Hugo Chavez, and that we need to encourage Alberta to secede from Canada. The decoupling we're seeing is quite the ominous trend for American power as well, so they need to find a way to screw up some of these developing economies.

Now the fundamentals predict that we should have $90 oil today, but far from stabilizing, that should go up and up in the future. While we're going to see enormous investment in bitumen, even when capacity quadruples in the next 10 years, that's still only 4.4 mbpd. Conventional oil is plateauing while newly emergent economies keep demand growing ever higher (recent finds in Brazil, etc. are a drop in the bucket). Unless we engineer some sort of demand destruction in other countries, supply isn't going to keep up at $90 a barrel.

(Yes, I know much of what I described involves morally monstrous activities by the United States. I'm not endorsing it. Alliterative, but Godwin's-Lawbreaking turns of phrase such as "Albertan Anschluss" almost made it into the post. But I guaran-damn-tee you the corporate oilgarchs in the U.S. don't sweat such scruples.)



Wow I feel like I just gave birth to a wall street journal! You should run for office.

Good post :tu

[BacktoBasics]

I agree with CC.

I expect sometime within 4 years for oil to dip back down under a 100 a barrel. We're in the middle of false inflation and bubble that is likely to burst sooner than later but probably not before it gets a little bigger.

These trucks already get 18-20 hwy so parnter more reasonable gas prices with trucks that get 23-25mph hwy and 18-20 city and they're back in business. Its just a swing that will take time. Out of all the trucks I expect Toyota to weather the storm the best. Only Ford is on the level quality wise with Chevy coming in behind them and Dodge pulling up the rear.

[leemajors]

Toyota is cutting back because sales are down. This has been happening in the industry for as long as I can remember...There is a huge bubble of relatively new used trucks and SUV's being dumped into the used car market right now as city slickers trade down...heck...a richer friend of mine just bought a hard loaded 40K mile 2007 King Ranch F350 4 door power stroke with all the ranch hand accessories etc. for $25,000. It was a $65,000 rig last year.

When oil stabilizes in the $90 range people will start buying trucks again.

my uncle owns a used car biz in Houston, and you can barely give a truck away at auction these days. Civics and the like get bid up like crazy.

[Anti.Hero]

Oh, so you meant the era of NEW trucks is over? Fine with me. I hate the way the new GMT900s look and will probably stick with 03-06's for the next 20 years. Not to mention all the new ecocrap the new diesels are required to have anyways. Pre-runner, 4x4 on 37's with SFA. Im looking forward to it :toast

Because I know plenty of people, myself inluded, who have a paid off truck and don't give a shit how high gas rises.

Then again, Chevy will be coming out with a 1/2 ton 4.6L diesel in a year or so...that might be worth it even 10 years from now if biodisel is still available to make. I haven't kept up on it since diesel has risen past $4. Everyone might have picked up on it and vegtable oil might be scarce Dunno.

Newsflash, some people are good with money, work hard, and will DAILY DRIVE trucks till the day they die and still retire wealthier than most.

Maybe if I'm lucky I can eventually purchase an international RXT and really piss people off.

[T Park]

Maybe if I'm lucky I can eventually purchase an international RXT and really piss people off.

:lol Right on man.

[S_A_Longhorn]

The key word is "temporary jobs". As in, not permanent.

Any manufacturing company hires temps from temp agencies, usually not temp-to-hire. Instead of laying off full-time employees with benefits, you cut the temps and their inflated temp agency invoices.

[Extra Stout]

Toyota isn't doing enough with marketing the Tundra.

They need to make the Virgen de Guadalupe decal STANDARD.

[curtismedellin]

Anyone here work at Toyota, temp or perm?
What kind of spin are they giving or are they saying anything at all about the media reports?

[JoeChalupa]

A neighbor friend just got hired in March but he was hired as permanent and is very glad.

[WARRIORNATION]

Looks like they have a foot out the door. Major Auto makers move and close down all the time. Why should Toyota be any different?

They may not completely shut down for at least 5 years but leave it to San Antonio and the constant changing Zoning laws, the aquifer recharge zones, and city council and the way they change the city tax. If Toyota does stay it will be the only major operation other than the Spurs to survive the bullshit San Antonio manufactures on a monthly basis.

What i don't get is what kind of Saki was the that Jap drinking when he decided to let a Mexican build a Toyota :lmao


Your such a racist! :nope