The automaker this month will suspend output at all but one plant in North America — putting more pressure on dealers with historically low inventories.

Keeping the flow of new Toyotas and Lexuses coming to U.S. dealers amid dozens of simultaneous threats falls to two executives who manage it all the Toyota way.

Toyota and Lexus dealers, who have been getting by for months with some of the leanest inventories in history, will see that trickle of vehicles dry up further.