YORK TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Toyota Motor Corp.'s top U.S. sales executive says the company won't make more production cuts despite a sales slump that may not end until after next year.
Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said Thursday that the company's car inventories are around the optimal 45-day supply.
Truck inventories are higher, but Lentz said he expects that to fall in line by the end of the year.
Toyota furloughed workers at its Tundra pickup truck plant in Texas in August due to slow sales. Lentz said they will return to work as scheduled in November.
Toyota posted a 32 per cent drop in U.S. sales in September as monthly sales industrywide fell below one million for the first time in 15 years.
The Japanese company's Canadian production appears safe, as its complex in Cambridge, Ont., builds fuel-efficient Corolla compact sedans and Matrix small crossovers which remain in high demand.
However, its new plant in Woodstock, Ont., has indefinitely delayed a second shift, though its initial shift of 1,200 people will begin later this year assembling RAV4 compact SUVs.
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