Toyota to Retool Plant for Next-Gen Pickups

Toyota Motor Corp. will decide later this summer on a $400 million plan to prepare its pickup truck plant in Texas for next-generation models that share the same platform, Automotive News reports.

Local county commissions have approved a request from Toyota for a 10-year, 80% tax abatement for the investment, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

The San Antonio factory currently uses the same assembly line to make midsize Tacoma and fullsize Tundra pickups, each with is own platform. AN says Toyota aims to cut production complexity and cost by moving next-generation models of both trucks to a single new platform, known internally as F1.

Sources tell the newspaper that the new trucks could go into production as soon as 2021.