Toyota is changing from a five-day production schedule to a six-day schedule at its manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas, United States, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Toyota will add a Saturday shift in the second quarter of 2016 and increase employment by about 200 workers. While the newspaper report cites a Toyota spokesperson, no official statement has been released yet.
Significance: Toyota builds the Tacoma and Tundra at the Texas facility and is adding a new Tacoma to showrooms in September 2015. At a press event featuring the Tacoma, Toyota Motor Sales group vice-president and general manager Bill Fay said the company is having no problem selling as many as they can build, and speculated that he could sell 30,000−40,000 more for at least the next couple of years. The report from the local media does not indicate how much output might increase, though IHS Automotive forecasts that San Antonio's production will increase from about 232,400 units in 2015 to 282,300 units in 2016, maintaining that pace until 2018 when it is forecasted to drop back to about 255,000 units. Toyota also announced in September 2014 an increase in production of the Tacoma at its completely knocked-down (CKD) plant in Tijuana, Mexico, which IHS forecasts will increase output to about 89,000 units per annum (upa), from 63,000 upa currently. Through August 2015, the Tacoma's sales increased by 18.8%, while the Tundra's sales were up only 1.8%. Toyota will be hoping that if the older truck with no incentives and no advertising is seeing sales increase, an updated truck with appropriate marketing will see sales grow further, and it is working to ensure there is enough production to meet the demand. Adding a Saturday shift is also a comparatively low-risk way to increase production, as it requires no bricks-and-mortar investment.
