Toyota exec replaced at Texas plant

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday that it was replacing the head of its new pickup plant in Texas, the latest in a string of reassignments in the Japanese automaker's North American operations.

Toyota said Hidehiko "T.J." Tajima, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, will return to Japan to take up a new job as general manager of corporate social responsibility in the environmental affairs division.

He will be succeeded by Kenji Fukuta, former general manager at the Tsutsumi plant in Japan, which produces the Prius hybrid, Camry and Scion tC cars.

As plant president since 2003, Tajima oversaw the construction of the San Antonio plant and the launch of the latest-generation Toyota Tundra truck last year.

Toyota hopes to double its share of the full-size pickup segment with the new Tundra. But the truck got off to a bumpy start — which industry experts say cannot be blamed on Tajima. More at Detroit News