Toyota delays US assembly unit

NEW YORK: Toyota Motor is delaying the start of production at its plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, indefinitely as the company copes with the downturn in the auto industry. The plant was scheduled to begin production in 2010, marking the first time the gas-electric Prius, which has been on sale for more than a decade, would be built outside of Japan and China.

But Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota���s US arm, said on Monday that despite investing $300 million in the plant so far, the automaker is delaying production indefinitely because of the industry-wide downturn. Construction of the plant is about 90% complete, and Toyota will finish the building, Goss said.

However, the installation of the factory���s equipment and machinery ��� ���the most time-consuming��� element of construction ��� is being put off. The roughly 100 people who have been hired to oversee construction and install human resources plans at the plant will not lose their jobs.