Toyota to abandon california plant

Toyota Motor said Friday that it was abandoning a plant in California
that it jointly owned with ailing US giant General Motors, marking
the first time it has pulled the plug on a factory. The move
follows GM's decision in June to drop its ownership stake in the joint
venture, New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, as it restructured
under bankruptcy protection. While a final decision on the fate of
the plant and its 4,700 workers will be left to the NUMMI
management, its closure now looks almost certain. Toyota has never
been involved in shutting an assembly plant anywhere in the world, so
it would be a first for the world's largest automaker. The plant
in Fremont, California will end production for Toyota in March and
shift output of Tacoma pick-ups to a factory in Texas, while
Corollas will be manufactured in Canada and Japan for the North
American market. 'We have determined that over the mid- to
long-term, it just would not be economically viable to continue the
production contract with NUMMI,' said Toyota's North American head,
Atsushi Niimi. 'This is most unfortunate, and we deeply regret
having to take this action,' he added. Toyota cannot promise the
affected workers jobs at its own plants, Niimi said. 'They will
not be prioritised over applicants from the local community' if they
apply for new jobs with Toyota, he told reporters in a
teleconference. Toyota, which overtook US rival GM in 2008 as the
world's largest automaker, is struggling to cut costs after falling
into the red for the first time, with a 436.9 billion yen (4.7
billion dollar) loss in the year to March.