Demand for SA-made trucks increasing despite sluggish Toyota sales

New data fuels more momentum for Alamo City’s expanding presence in auto industry

The 2022 Toyota Tundra is manufactured in San Antonio. (Courtesy of Toyota, Toyota)

SAN ANTONIO – Toyota sold nearly 11,000 Tundra pickup trucks in the U.S. in March, a 57% increase over the same month a year ago.

Year to date demand was also impressive as the automaker moved more than 22,600 of the full-size trucks manufactured in South San Antonio off of dealer lots, an 18.3% increase over first quarter 2021 sales.

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That’s good news for Toyota and for the Alamo City, which continues to draw more auto manufacturing activity to the region. And it comes as the automaker reports a more than 26% decline in overall U.S. sales in March and a 14.7% decrease in 1Q 2022.

In 2021, Toyota Tundra sales were down nearly 25% year over year. In December, sales of the truck plummeted more than 69% from the same month in 2020.

Toyota officials indicated in February that the company’s plan to diversify vehicle production in San Antonio was on schedule despite a relentless pandemic and supply chain disruptions. That diversification will include a shift of the automaker’s Sequoia SUV production to San Antonio to replace work on the smaller Tacoma truck.

The changes are part of a nearly $400 million reinvestment the company is making in its Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. plant in the Alamo City. That facility employees approximately 3,200 workers.

Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.

Read the full story on San Antonio Business Journal.

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