The Toyota Motor Corp. plant in San Antonio can’t build trucks fast enough, operating at full throttle six days a week with new Tundras and Tacomas rolling off its production line every 60 seconds.
“We’re pegged out. We can’t run any faster,” said Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas spokesman Mario Lozoya.
The company is trying to relieve some of the pressure on its assembly line here by upping production at its facility east of Tijuana, in Mexico’s Baja California state. Toyota is investing $150 million in the Baja California plant to increase its production of Tacomas by 60,000 a year by 2018, adding roughly 400 jobs in Mexico.
The Mexico investment comes despite a slowdown in overall truck sales. Toyota has sold 177,055 Tacoma and Tundra pickups through August — 304 less than the same time period in 2015. The drop is due to lagging Tundra sales, which are down 8.5 percent year-over-year through August. Tacoma sales are up 5.5 percent during the same time period.