Toyota switches U.S. plant to Prius

BLUE SPRINGS, Miss., July 10 (UPI) -- Toyota Motors said Thursday it would switch production plans for a new factory in Blue Springs, Miss., to making hybrid gas-electric vehicles.

The Japanese automaker, caught by the sudden consumer switch to fuel-efficient vehicles, said it would stop production of the Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia SUV for three months and re-configure its Mississippi plant to produce the Prius starting in 2010, The New York Times reported.

"By using this downturn as an opportunity ... we hope to emerge even stronger," Toyota vice president for external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America Jim Wiseman said in a statement.

Toyota said Tundra plants in Princeton, Ind., and San Antonio will close Aug. 8 until early November. It will also suspend work for those months in Huntsville, Ala., where engines for the Tundra and Sequoia are built.

Production of Toyota's Highlander SUV, originally planned for Mississippi, will be moved to the Princeton Plant, the company said.