Japan's Hino to end output in California plant: official

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Hino Motors, an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp., said Thursday that it will halt truck production at its California plant as the US economic slowdown hits demand for commercial vehicles.

Truck production at the plant will end in July and be transferred to Hino's second US factory in West Virginia that opened last year, said company spokesman Hidenobu Tezuka.

"Material costs are rising and US consumption has fallen due to the subprime crisis. The output at our plant was not what we had expected," he said.

The move will roughly halve Hino's North American truck output capacity from 9,500 units a year to 4,500, Tezuka said.

But the plant will not be shut as it will continue to make car parts for Toyota, Japan's largest automaker which is on track to overtake US giant General Motors as the world number one.

Hino's California plant has assembled parts for trucks for the North American market since October 2004. The company also has a plant in Ontario, Canada.

Japanese automakers have enjoyed brisk profits in the US market in recent years, helped by firm demand and a weak yen, but the US credit crunch and a falling dollar are now weighing on their earning prospects.

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