Toyota, whose U.S. sales are growing faster than its ability to add plants, is wary of expanding manufacturing capacity too quickly, an official says.
"We have to make sure we expand in the right way," said Dan Sieger, a spokesman for the company's manufacturing unit in Erlanger, Ky. "That's why there is so much thought going into when, whether and how to add capacity."
Toyota officials have said they are studying possible sites in the U.S., specifically Southern states, for an eighth North American assembly plant. In the past 12 months, the company announced production ventures in Mexico and Indiana and opened a pickup truck plant in San Antonio, Texas.
A 13 percent increase in U.S. sales in 2006 put further pressure on Toyota to expand. Toyota, Asia's largest automaker, imported a record 1.18 million vehicles to the U.S. from Japan last year to help meet demand.
Quality concerns and a limited pool of manufacturing engineers may mean a new North American plant won't be announced soon, analyst Sean McAlinden said.
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