Toyota Denies Report Of Production Cuts In Texas

(AP) - The president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. denied a report that the company is considering limiting production at a new truck-assembly plant that hasn't even opened yet, but he said assembly-line activity would depend on demand for trucks.

The Tokyo newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that Toyota plans to build about 150,000 pickups at the San Antonio plant next year, well below the factory's annual capacity of 200,000 trucks. The plant is scheduled to begin operating in November.

Toyota's top official in Texas, Hidehiko Tajima, called the report ''false,'' ''completely wrong'' and ''misinformation.''

''Everything is on track,'' he said.

Tajima said, however, that it will take time for the plant to ramp up to making 200,000 Tundra pickups a year - he said the company hasn't decided when to run at full capacity. Even then, production will be based on demand, he said.

Tajima said there have been no changes in hiring plans, which he called ''good evidence'' that production plans remain the same. He said the plant now has 1,500 employees and will have 1,900 by a Nov. 17 ceremony to mark production of the first truck.

Tajima made the comments after a speech that updated progress at the plant.