Toyota ends production of Solara

Toyota has decided that its Solara convertible, production of which had been idled since late last year, will no longer be produced.

The vehicle, which was built at the automaker's Georgetown plant, was initially going to cease production altogether last year, but Toyota decided to keep the convertible model because of consumers' penchant at the time for buying more fuel-efficient cars.

"We had hoped we would see a market for Solara convertibles this spring, but given the state of this industry, the demand just wasn't there," Toyota spokesman Rick Hesterberg said.

The company had announced in November that it would suspend production of the convertible for four months because of high inventories.

Production of the Solara has dropped significantly in recent years. In 2004, the plant built 49,174 Solaras. That number fell to 28,479 in 2007. Toyota stopped releasing plant-specific production numbers in 2008.

The loss of the Solara will not have an impact on production at the plant, which is now building Toyota's new Venza crossover, Hesterberg said.

This story was originally published June 24, 2009 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Toyota ends production of Solara."