Consumer demands drive Toyota: Solara spared as automaker adapts ...

13/08/2008 04:43. Steve St. Angelo, senior vice president of Toyota's North American manufacturing operations and president of the factories that produce the Solara and related models, said the automaker decided not to end the model's run this month in response to market demands. The Solara coupe, already discontinued, was based on the top-selling Camry midsize sedan.

"It was a car that our customers demanded. They wanted it," St. Angelo said Monday after a speech at the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City. "I was pushing for it," he added.

Toyota's reevaluation of the Solara drop-top is the latest example of Toyota adapting to one of the most tumultuous years in the history of the U.S. auto industry. In recent weeks, Toyota has announced production changes that affect three other U.S.... // Trading Markets