Prius plant in USA!!

Toyota Prius to be Built in US by 2015 » AutoGuide.com News

 

^^^was a 2012 article and I have not heard anything about US production recently. Would be good to have US production for buying my next Prius, but not sure if/when that will happen.

 

Toyota builds the Corolla in the Mississippi Plant.

They are not retooling to build the Prius. Prius will still be built in a few Japanese Plants.

 

Well OK, but since all the basic patents on the hybrid synergy drive system have now expired, could someone please produce a clone in the US using as much as possible American parts and workers?
Hello Ford? Hello GM? Hello Chrysler?

 

Blue Springs, near Tupelo MS was originally to make Prius. The economic downturn changed the focus to a cheaper car. I have heard no recent rumors about US production.

 

If they do, the quality will most likely suffer.

 

Spider-Man, I agree but I would truly be willing to cope with the lack,of reliability as long as I could purchase US made parts to fix it or pay local folks to fix it. And I'm sure you would agree that some of odd design weaknesses like armrests and inadequate sun visors could be fixed along the way to an acceptable clone.

 

And the final price for the USA market, will go UP .....

 

I rather have my car made in Japan by japanese workers.
very likely impossible for americans to reach that level of quality /

BION

 

The plant was originally going to produce the Toyota Highlander beginning in 2010, but production was moved instead to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana. TMMMS was subsequently scheduled to produce the Toyota Prius, but Toyota's decision to delay the opening of the plant put those plans on hold as well. On, June 17, 2010, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi announced that it will open the Blue Springs facility in the fall of 2011, when it will produce the Toyota Corolla instead of the Prius. The Toyota Corolla was previously manufactured at the NUMMI facility in California until the facility was closed down in early 2010. It was the closing of NUMMI that made the opening of the Mississippi plant economically feasible.[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Mississippi

 

I rather have my car made in Japan by japanese workers.
very likely impossible for americans to reach that level of quality /
BION

Ironic, isn't it ???
How many other guys on here are old enough to remember when it was said - "If it's made in Japan, it's junk!
My, How times have changed..............

 

Hey Bob,
We have an '11 Corolla made in Canada and the quality pales in comparison to the prius and the parts are very similar.

After replacing the rear wheel bearings last fall I can say there are already many third-party parts out there for the prius. I am sure Toyota would keep very close tabs on production of their flag-ship hybrid if it did get produce here. Makes me wonder how the Taiwanese prius quality is in comparison?

 

And then the same was said about Korean cars, and it was the truth at the time! As of now I am a little apprehensive about the imminent advent of Chinese cars.

The quality of US-built autos has improved quite a lot over the past 10 years or so. The 2013 Explorer I used for a company vehicle went for 83K miles without a single problem, not even a warning light, and felt like a new car all the way.

 

Too funny. In the era of multinationals and #1 priority of profits, not going to happen. We the consumers want the cheapest prices, which pretty much means manufacturing abroad as much as possible. If we the consumers stopped buying foreign manufactured products, production would come back here. Unfortunately we the consumers love Wrongmart/ChinaMart/WalMart for the cheap prices and poor quality products.

Take a look at the attached parts content information from a 2013 Ford Fusion SE.

The only US auto manufacture is Tesla. Design, manufacturing, and assembly is all in the US. But apparently 55% of the parts content is from the US/Canada. Source Link.

All auto manufactures should fear the Chinese and Indians. Right now their cars are junk, and would only appeal to the poor; new, cheap, throw away car. Give them 10 years to learn, refine, and hire key auto employees from other manufacture (and likely steal other companies patents; damn them), a scary situation.

Remember Hyundai from the 1980's? The Excel was a nice, no frills, disposable econo box. The US manufactures were arrogant and thought the US consumers would choose to buy a used US car instead of a new Hyundai Excel. They were wrong. Fast forward 30 years. Holly Shite! Hyundai took a page out the Japanese manufactures play book: quality, quality, quality. If you haven't looked at a Hyundai, its a great car at a great value ("cheap").

Even Hyundai's luxury line, the Genesis and Equus, give you Lexus/Infinit/BMW/Benz features and quality w/o the price and snob appeal.

 

I disagree with all of you that say the quality of a Prius built in the USA would be lower. It doesn't have to be, anyway. Honda has been building cars in Marysville Ohio for years and it is an excellent car. I know first hand BTW. My '03 Accord was the best car I have ever owned....period. I have bought many makes and models of cars since 1974.

 

The cars built in the USA seem to contain defective or substandard parts made in North America. Would you prefer your airbags sourced from Takata's plant in Mexico or the plant they closed in the US? Toyota's defective pedals came from a Canadian plant.

There's a couple GM employees suing because GM didn't give them enough unpaid time off for their religious practices. Maybe they'd be happier collecting a paycheck from Toyota. Do you want them assembling your car?

When the manufacturer insists on quality it doesn't matter where the product is assembled. The Chinese production of iPhones hasn't hurt Apple's sales or profits.

How dedicated is Toyota to top quality? I have my doubts as by their own admission they installed electrical components that may not withstand normal use. Instead of replacing the part with a better one their solution is to reduce the performance of the car. From my point of view, they are cheaping out and when you buy cheap you don't get good.

The Indians don't have to steal automotive technology. They bought Land Rover & Jaguar.

 

I have heard from a few sources that the the past 10-15 years Toyota has been trying to do too many new things in too many markets too fast. That alone is bound to affect quality.