RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's business news starts with Toyota putting on the brakes.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: Toyota says it's suspending plans to produce its Prius hybrid car in the U.S. A plant is now under construction in Tupelo, Mississippi. It was to be the first plant to make the popular gas-electric hybrid in this country. But as auto sales plunged, Toyota has been scaling back on production, and yesterday it said it will indefinitely delay production at the new Prius plant. Toyota will finish the building, but it won't install equipment. And the hundred or so people involved in the construction will keep their jobs.
Toyota says it's suspending plans to produce its Prius hybrid car in the U.S. A plant under construction near Tupelo, Miss., was to be the first to make the popular gas-electric hybrid in the U.S. But as auto sales plunged, Toyota has been scaling back production. Toyota will finish the building but won't install equipment.