scionlife

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will build two assembly plants in North America, Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported on Saturday.

Toyota is considering building a plant in northern part of Midwest to assemble Yaris compact cars which are selling well, the Japanese daily said.

The plant, with the annual production capacity of 200,000 units, was expected to be operational in 2009, it said.

Toyota will also build another plant in North America to start producing sport utility vehicles around 2010, it said.

Toyota will decide where to build the assembly plants by the end of this year, the daily said.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...028&ID=6145794

Keitaro

Good contingency plan. There are several factors why Toyota needs to transfer production out of Japan:

1. Volatile political situation between North Korea and the Northern Asia region.
2. Anti-Japanese sentiment in China, North and South Korea.
3. Japan's location on the Pacific's Rim of Fire: Japan is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.
4. Sometimes it's best to manufacture near ample supply of materials (ie. North America).
5. Increase market share in Central/South America markets (see link below)
10/0606 Annual Info Meeting
http://www-origin.irwebcasting.com/0...24c/index.html

xA_Factor

Boils down to this: Toyota likes to "build them where they sell them", whenever possible.

tCheesy

bring some of those jobs back to America, dammit.

xA_Factor

Amen brother!

The Big 3 are bailing out of the U.S. to China and Mexico, while Toyota keeps opening plants here.

rallying_the_scion

just goes to show who the real companys are out there. its bad when the us comaopnys leave the US and the others come into the US, yep, Toyota is better!!!!!!

JUMBO

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE build a plant here in Chattanooga! That would be absolutely fantastic!

ehj

Blame the Unions for the Big 3 pulling jobs out of the U.S.

Doanrs

As my HR Director once said, "No company has ever gotten a union that didn't deserve one." If they'd have treated them well in the beginning, they'd still be there today. Just look at the Toyotas US plants. They treat them fairly and they vote not to unionize.

Mcfly315

Unions have gotten out of control. They are out of touch with the people they represent and the companies that make the jobs. When I got my first union job, I remember I got a bill from the union for $300 before I even got my first pay check. I was working 16 hours a week part time while interning and juggling 18 semesters units but they didn't care. When I called them to ask if they had a payment plan or something, they just said, pay or else you'll lose your job. During the whole time that I was there the union never sent me one iota of material or information. They think that just because a job is considered union they have a god given right to take your money and not return a single service in return. You wonder where all that money goes and who really benefits from those monthly contributions. It's was something like 7 dollars a week.

I hope that any Toyota factory that opens stays union free. I am all for unity in voice when negotiating with a big corporations but unions have lost their way. Look how unions are killing GM and Ford. Their wages are rediculously high, their benefits better than government employees and they complain about paying a little higher co-pay for medication that is still lower than the avg American. It's no secret why companies move jobs to Canada and Mexico just to get away from these nutty unions. There was a time that unions did a lot of good but its long gone now.

Sorry if this got too off topic

kewlbox

Toyota is considering building a plant in northern part of Midwest to assemble Yaris compact cars which are selling well, the Japanese daily said.

Welcome to wisconsin, Please follow me!!!






At least i can dream.

xA_Factor

I think it's awesome that Toyota is doing so well. After all, they put food on my table. But at the same time, I hate to see the Big 3 in so much trouble. Competition is good for everyone. It's keeps companies like Toyota focused (believe it or not, Toyota likes competition). Plus it's good for the consumer in general. And of course, I hate to see so many American workers kicked to the curb.

Ford and GM simply abandon the small and mid-size car market, putting all their "eggs" in one basket...that being the truck/SUV market. That was not a smart move for the long haul.

And, of course, there's the UAW. Lucrative contracts and suffocating legacy costs are like cinder blocks tied to the company's legs. It's rather ironic that the very entity that supposed to protect auto worker's jobs is actually killing jobs. You would think someone....the company and/or the UAW.... would have looked into the future and said, "what if things take a turn for the worse? Can we weather that storm?". Sad....really.

But, to Toyota? Thank you for so much investment here in North America. There are literally thousands and thousands of people at work in factories, at suppliers, in design centers, logistical operations, dealerships, ect., ect. Plus Toyota funnels millions of dollars to the local communities where they operate.