Early in August, Toyota celebrated yet another major milestone: The 2011 Toyota Tacoma is now being produced alongside its big brother—the Toyota Tundra—at the automaker’s manufacturing facilities in San Antonio, Texas. It was the culmination of a major Toyota effort to improve its U.S. truck production, an effort that has benefited from a $100 million investment in Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TTMTX) and added 1,000 jobs to the plant. The news is a bright spot during the industry’s slow recovery, Boston Toyota Dealers say.
“The San Antonio plant has shown a great deal of resilience during the recession and is fully prepared to ramp-up Tacoma production,” said Chris Nielsen, TMMTX president. “By building Tacoma in Texas, we are able to consolidate pickup truck production in the United States under one roof, allowing us to fully utilize the plant’s capacity.”
A key to this success story: Although TTMTX was hit hard by the global automotive downturn, Toyota didn’t lay off its San Antonio employees—the company retrained them to strengthen their skills and improve plant processes. That means they were able to jump right in and start building the high-quality Tacoma, the best-selling compact pickup in America, right from the start. The addition of Tacoma production increases Toyota’s competitiveness in the mid-size truck segment, Washington DC Nissan Dealers say.
Another important factor: The truck itself. The popular Tacoma has attracted more than 60,000 customers through July of this year, easily topping the combined sales of its Nissan and Ford rivals.
The 2011 Tacoma achieves this kind of sales success by offering a wide range of configurations to meet the demands of a wide range of customers. Drivers who want a robust cargo hauler can get a Tacoma with a payload rating of 1,380 lbs., a maximum tow rating of 3,500 lbs. and a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 7,500 lbs. When the going gets rough, there’s an available on-demand four-wheel-drive system as well, featuring a two-speed electronically controlled transfer case.
For drivers who demand big style in a compact package, the eye-catching Tacoma X-Runner makes for an excellent choice. Wearing a unique body kit and sitting on a lowered ride height, the X-Runner holsters a 4.0-liter V6 delivering 236 hp and 266 lb.-ft. of torque, and that potent powerplant is mated to a crisp-shifting six-speed manual transmission for added driving excitement.
Then, bringing together the best of both worlds are the new Tacoma T|X and T|X Pro, which add off-road goodies and graphics to create an aggressive new way to dominate the compact pickup segment. The T|X off-road packages continue Toyota’s 4WD prowess, Toyota Boston says.
When you consider you can get a Tacoma for as low as $16,365, with an EPA line as high as 21 mpg city/25 mpg highway/22 mpg combined, you can expect the folks building Toyota pickups in Texas to stay busy for quite some time to come.
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