Initial plans to reduce production of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles by 10% from last year has been bumped up to a 17% reduction, the Nikkei reported on Thursday, without citing sources.

To achieve these numbers, they have released many temporary employees and have been slowing down production rates by 30% since early August.  They intent to continue at this reduced rate until December.

Because of the way that they are doing it, they will be positioned to ramp up production quickly if gas prices plummet and sales increase.  This is unlikely given recent trends.

(via AutoNews)