Toyota Will Expand Production In San Antonio – More Tundra/Tacoma Trucks Coming

Toyota is planning on expanding production at its San Antonio plant to six days a week to meet high dealer demand for the Tundra and Tacoma trucks.

An additional Saturday shift is planned for Toyota’s San Antonio plant to accommodate demand.

The story in the San Antonio Express (subscription may be required), says Toyota is looking to hire upwards of 200 additional workers to accommodate the Saturday shift. This additional shift is expected to start next spring.

Increasing production will be in stages with workers being hired in 20-30 person batches over the next few months. Once the shift is fully trained, the Saturday shift will start.

Entry pay will be $14 and up for these new entry-level factory employees. This is slightly less than the entry wage of $15.78 per hour for entry-level workers that the UAW has negotiated. Those workers can earn upwards of $19.28 an hour after four years according to the Detroit Free Press. One dollar an hour doesn’t seem like much, but with 200 employees working 40 hours weeks, it could max out to around $416,000 (200x40x52 weeks) in additional wages.

This additional shift could also mean parts suppliers will be adding staff to keep up with demand as well.

Finally, this news comes on the heels of Toyota expanding production at their Baja facility earlier this spring. With both of these plants expanding production and machines needing downtime, it seems more than ever, Toyota has maxed out production of their current lineup of trucks.