Toyota has big plans for their production! Per Bill Fay…. A top Toyota executive, the auto company might eventually make all of its U.S.-bound vehicles in North America, with no imports from Japan. Their goal is to have all Toyota vehicles that are sold in the US, be produced here also. That is very exciting news coming from a company that added 3,500 jobs to the US economy last year. Bringing more money home is always a bonus.
Toyota dealerships in the US, like O’Brien Toyota Scion, will be selling vehicles that are more US based than any “domestic” car maker. That sounds odd doesn’t it? To anyone that has worked with Toyota it doesn’t sound all that crazy. Toyota has been moving more and more jobs to US plants every year.
It is no secret that Toyota and other Japanese automakers have been shifting production from Japan to other markets in reaction to the strength of the yen in recent years. A shortage of younger workers is another factor. In 2012, Toyota assembled slightly more than 70% of vehicles sold in the U.S. in North American factories.
“Our intention is clearly to grow that 70% over time,” Fay said. “Short term, we are not going to build everything in North America, especially (when) you consider Lexus, which we are shifting more slowly. “Certainly there’s a movement to do more of that work where the customer is,” Fay said after the company revealed the Furia concept sedan at the Detroit auto show.
Here is the current “picture” of Toyota’s U.S. presence:
- The company’s new Avalon sedan was engineered largely at its Ann Arbor Technical Center. It’s assembled in Georgetown, Ky., along with the Camry.
- “Whether we ever totally get there, I don’t know,” Fay said. “That would be a ways down the road, but we’re certainly making a lot of progress in vehicles like Avalon, where that was really all done here in North America by our companies here.”
- Fay said that by the end of the year, 100% of Toyota Corollas sold in the U.S. will be built at its Cambridge, Ontario, and Blue Springs, Miss., plants.
- Toyota has also expanded design and engineering centers, such as the CALTY styling studio near Los Angeles and its technical center in Ann Arbor.
- Last year, Toyota added or announced 3,500 new jobs and investment of $1.6 billion in North America.
- Toyota has nine U.S. plants that produce vehicles such as the Camry, Avalon, Venza, Corolla, Highlander, Sienna, Tacoma and Tundra.
Way to go Toyota! We say “bring it on”!
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