Will Bakersfield be used in the reshoot?

updated 6:16 p.m. ET Nov. 12, 2007

FRESNO, Calif. - Toyota Motor Corporation pulled an ad that likened Fresno to an outdated pit stop after Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote the car company to complain.

The commercial depicted people driving the fuel-efficient Prius in an imagined future in which "gas stations will become nothing more than low-budget tourist stops. Like ghost towns ... or Fresno."

That slap got no mileage with Mayor Alan Autry, who asked Feinstein to intervene. Friday, Toyota officials recalled the spot produced for auto dealers in the Southeast U.S., and edited out any mention of the San Joaquin Valley's largest city.

City council member Henry Perea said he'd forgive Toyota if the carmaker opened a Prius factory in Fresno.

Messages left at Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. were not immediately returned.

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