Toyota To Start Assembling Hybrid Cars In U.S.

July 11, 2008 10:38 p.m. EST

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday it will assemble its popular electric-gas hybrid, the Prius, in the United States for the first time.

The Japanese automaker will start building the Prius in 2010 at a plant in Blue Springs, MS - a factory initially set to assemble the Toyota Highlander SUV. The passenger vehicle will instead be built in another plant in Princeton, IN.

The industry-wide sales slump in June forced automakers to invest in unusual production changes. By building the Prius in the U.S., Toyota is expecting to accommodate increasing demand of its hybrid vehicle.

The car company, which also owns the Scion and Lexus brands, was defenseless to the overall drop in U.S. car sales in June, registering a 21.1 percent decline to just 193,234. The overall market reportedly plummeted 18.3 percent last month.

Making the picture far worse, it was reported that due to the industry-wide sales slowdown, Toyota would freeze for three months the manufacture of the Tundra pickup and the Sequoia SUV. For the year, Tundra sales plunged almost 7.6 percent.