After recently visiting the Toyota Motors Manufacturing facility in Texas, we can officially say that the operation and the company are truly remarkable, producing some of the best-made pickup trucks in America by the thousands each year. Now, it seems that the new Tacoma is in even more demand than planned, and Toyota has to increase production by not 20%, not 40% but a massive 60%. The increase, however, will not occur at the Texas plant but in Toyota's Mexico plant, where most of the Tacomas are made.
This is huge news because it's the big pickup market that's currently the hottest, and the top three spots in vehicle sales are occupied by the Ford F-150, Chevy
The increase is far more than just bumping up production. Toyota will increase spending by about $150 million and will add 400 jobs. The news is big because most manufacturers have completely ignored the midsize pickup truck market, except for Toyota (Tacoma), Nissan (Frontier) and Chevy (Colorado). Evidence of serious growth may lead to other manufacturers producing
Nissan, of course, needs to redesign their long-in-the-tooth Frontier, and Ford should seriously consider bringing back the Ranger. The fact that the Tacoma has the highest resale value of any vehicle on the market (retaining 60.4 percent of its value after five years) is reason alone for manufacturers to rethink these smaller haulers.
