WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. — Normal production won’t resume at Hino Motors Manufacturing USA, located in Wood County, until September at the earliest, according to Steve Stalnaker, senior vice president and manager of the Mineral Wells plant.
What was originally described as a “vacation period” for truck production began on July 3 with a restart date initially scheduled for July 13.
Early in July, the projected restart date was extended to Aug. 2 “after reviewing current business conditions,” company officials said at that time.
The halt to production will now continue through August.
About 450 people had worked at the plant, located off Interstate 77, as of April.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, medium-duty trucks were assembled at the West Virginia location for Hino, the commercial truck division of Toyota Motors Corporation.
The company got its Mountain State start in Williamstown in 2007 and moved production to Mineral Wells last year.