Scott County

Toyota produced more cars in 2010

Despite recalls that shut down idled assembly lines, Toyota's North American manufacturing plants announced this week that they built 18 percent more vehicles last year than in 2009.

The company's plants produced a total of 1,456,887 vehicles, putting their output slightly above the 2008 output of 1,454,958. In 2009, as the recession wore on automakers, the plants' output declined 15 percent to 1.23 million. Their highest output was in pre-recession 2007 when they built 1,671,009 vehicles.

Production at the company's flagship Georgetown plant was 371,694 vehicles, up 6.7 percent from 348,237 in 2009. The plant builds Camrys, Camry Hybrids, Avalons and Venzas.

The rise came despite recalls, which had a direct effect on Georgetown. In January, the company decided to stop one of the two lines at the plant, as it investigated issues related to gas pedals potentially sticking in a number of models.

The second-largest output came from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, which produced 319,547 vehicles.