Flu, I’ll admit that your sources that say Mexico trump my source for USA. Good reseach. Still, at least I tried to buy an American car, from an American company built largely with US parts.
Less than half of all content of Toyota vehicles sold in the United States is made in the United States or Canada.
Even more:
“It is a little-understood fact that Toyota’s exports to the United States are almost as great as the number of vehicles produced in the United States by Toyota,”
Is your arguement that because some GM products are assembled in Mexico or Canada that they are no more American than Toyota?
Does anyone besides me have stories of the shitty Japanase vehicles they have owned?
Toyota fears U.S. backlash over gains
It cites political, social risks
February 13, 2007
BY JOE GUY COLLIER and JUSTIN HYDE
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS
Toyota Motor Corp. is bracing for possible political and consumer backlash caused by its rapid U.S. growth, according to an internal report obtained by the Free Press.
Toyota executives have publicly downplayed the importance of predictions that the Japan-based company will pass General Motors Corp. this year as the world’s largest automaker. But the Toyota report says the company could face criticism because its U.S. sales are increasing while Detroit’s automakers are losing sales and shuttering plants.
“With recent market-share gains and sales continuing to increase, we are becoming the de facto leader of the industry — that brings risks and responsibilities,” according to a presentation by Seiichi (Sean) Sudo, president of Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing in North America. “Our competitors are jealous of our success.”
Detroit’s congressional allies of GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group say it’s not jealousy. They say Japanese automakers are exploiting an artificially weak yen to make their products more affordable.
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, said he is considering legislation aimed at pressuring Japan and other countries to stop manipulating their currencies to boost exports.
Japanese automakers “are importing the more expensive cars to the U.S., and getting the benefit of the yen imbalance,” Levin said. Japan has “a clear-cut set of policies, and we don’t have any.”
In the briefing to other Toyota managers, Sudo cited political and social risks. The report, left unsecured on computers at the company’s Georgetown, Ky., complex, said Toyota could come under fire for:
• Selling vehicles to U.S. customers with high proportions of foreign-made parts. Less than half of all content of Toyota vehicles sold in the United States is made in the United States or Canada.
• Not including enough minority-owned businesses in its supplier base. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, leader of the Rainbow PUSH activist group, has asked Toyota to improve diversity efforts.
• Leaving a vacuum in U.S. communities as GM, Ford, Chrysler and their suppliers shed plants and workers.
“A Democratic Congress, particularly those members with districts hit by Big 3 and supplier plant closings, may call for further oversight of the industry and Japanese companies in particular,” the presentation said.
Michigan Dems threaten to act
Toyota’s concerns are not far off the mark. With a new Democratic majority in Congress, Michigan’s Democratic lawmakers have pledged to press harder on trade and other issues where Detroit automakers say Japanese companies have an unfair advantage.
Last week, two Democratic House members from Michigan — Levin and Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn — sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, urging him to press Japan over the value of the yen during a meeting of world economic powers.
Dingell, Levin and two other congressmen said that a weak yen had helped Japanese automakers increase their exports to the United States by more than 30% in 2006. Detroit automakers and their congressional allies say the yen bestows up to a $4,000-per-vehicle benefit for Japanese automakers.
The Harbour-Felax Group, a Royal Oak automotive consulting firm, estimated the yen benefit at $1,054 per vehicle in a study it released last fall.
“It is a little-understood fact that Toyota’s exports to the United States are almost as great as the number of vehicles produced in the United States by Toyota,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are certain that the weak yen is also boosting Japanese exports in other economic sectors and is having a significant impact on many U.S. producers.”
Toyota’s public image and ability to operate with few barriers in the United States are significant because this is the world’s biggest market and a source of huge and profitable growth for Toyota. Its U.S. sales rose 12.5% last year, and it is expected to have $13 billion in profit this fiscal year.”
