Toyota News: Toyota Makes the Call, Plans on Slowing Down Camry Production

[William Maley]

Beginning next month, Toyota will slow down one of its three assembly lines at its Georgetown, Kentucky plant. Aside from building the Avalon and Lexus ES, Georgetown is home to the Camry - the best-selling car in the U.S. for the past 16 years.

“The auto industry is cyclical, and our normal process is to proactively plan months in advance for volume adjustments,” said Rick Hesterberg, a Toyota spokesman to Bloomberg.

Hesterberg declined to comment on how much production would be reduced by the slowdown. He did say that none of the 8,000 permanent workers or 1,500 temps will be laid off during this slowdown.

Demand for the Camry has been slipping for the past few years as buyers are opting for SUVs and trucks. So far in 2018, Camry sales have 6.1 percent when compared to the same time last year.

Source: Bloomberg

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[riviera74]

Given all the RAV4s and Highlanders they are selling, reducing Camry production makes a ton of sense.  All of a sudden, Ford's call to eliminate (most) sedan production does not look so desperate.

[regfootball]

what is befuddling to me is considering how ghastly looking the Camry is, it still sells a bunch.

[Robert Hall]

58 minutes ago, regfootball said:

what is befuddling to me is considering how ghastly looking the Camry is, it still sells a bunch.

Well, it's definitely not bland anymore.   And in white w/ the black roof and red interior, it really stands out amongst the black, silver or white generic midsize appliances. 

[regfootball]

yes, in a bad way.  just my opinion, but the styling on the Camry is a disastrous mishmash of things.  Between the Camry and Accord, both are styling disasters.  JMO of course

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by regfootball

[daves87rs]

Unlike Ford, they understand what an adjustment is....

[A Horse With No Name]

15 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Given all the RAV4s and Highlanders they are selling, reducing Camry production makes a ton of sense.  All of a sudden, Ford's call to eliminate (most) sedan production does not look so desperate.

Ohhhh I think it is entirely rational on Fords part.  It's not like they don't have 115 years of production experience. They can switch plants back to cars quickly if the price of gas spikes.  Plus, they are building things they want to build. I actually really respect that decision. 

Plus with upcoming moves to more hybrids and electrics, we may never have a fuel price shock causing people to move back to cars. 

14 hours ago, regfootball said:

what is befuddling to me is considering how ghastly looking the Camry is, it still sells a bunch.

Had one as a rental this weekend, like it better than the Fusion in terms of appearance. 

13 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Well, it's definitely not bland anymore.   And in white w/ the black roof and red interior, it really stands out amongst the black, silver or white generic midsize appliances. 

I actually find it sort of attractive. 

3 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Unlike Ford, they understand what an adjustment is....

Yep...a plus one to our plus one member.