New prius built in USA.

Low demand? You're kidding, right?

2010 Toyota Prius Pre-Sales Hit 80,000 Units ? Automotive News & Car Rumors at Automobile Magazine

.

 

toyota is a japanese company and they will not build anything else in the US when plants are idle in the home country.

 

Unlike their American counterparts.

 

What are you talking about? GM, Ford and Chrysler hardly import anything other than where they were legislated to through NAFTA.

 

Seriously? Where are most of the cars built? My father's last three Mercs were built in Mexico & Canada. I don't believe Ford was "required" to build them there.

And what about GM's plans to sell Chinese-built cars in the US? Doesn't sound like NAFTA to me.

 

This was supposed to be a joke, right?

 

GM and Ford do build cars in Mexico and Canada as they are the largest two sellers of vehicles in those countries also. Required , no encouraged yes.

As to who imports more vehicles into the US, who costs the US more jobs, more negative balance of payments, are you serious? How many does toyota employ in the US today? Tell me and then compare that with how many Detroit has let go over the last couple of years. Those jobs are not in Mexico, they are in Japan. Japan produces more than twice as many vehicles as the markets needs. Guess where most of those end up? that would be the same as the Us producting 20 millin this year and 30 million in a normal year. Think your economic life might be better if that was th ecase?

 

I was wondering about the Mississippi plant, what happened?

They were supposed to build the Prii there but then the market crashed and the factory is just sitting there. I read somewhere that they might use the Mississippi plant to build the next generation (2012?) Prii.

It seems like a shame to build a Prius making factory in America and then just let it go to waste...

 

How did you arrive at that number? If Japan produces "twice as many", what's the factor for the US automakers?

 

Looks like production is going to be kicked up a gear!
Japan is going to begin letting workers get some overtime again.

"Prius Plant Going Into Overtime Next Month To Keep Up With Sales"


Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported today that Toyota plans to resume overtime at its Aichi plant next month in order to help meet strong demand for the new 2010 Prius. Toyota has received orders for more than 110,000 vehicles and plans to raise monthly output of the model by 20 percent from the original schedule to about 50,000 cars, NHK said.
Toyota Motor Sales' original sales expectations for the US market was 100,000 units by the end of 2009. With 7 months left in 2009, that would be an average of over 14,000 Prius units/month. If the 20 percent output translates into US sales, that would bump monthly sales to around 17,000 per month and 120,000 total.
Will Prius sales jump to the levels that we saw last summer with $4 gas prices given today's relatively low gas prices and weak economy?"

 

That is called competition. The American car companies lost market share because their cars have a hard time competing with imports due to the decisions they have taken over the last few decades as to which products and technologies to push on the buyer.

We are talking about American car companies having factories outside of their country and closing US factories vs. Japanese automakers producing in their homeland first, before opening factories overseas.

 

www.jama.org

2007 produced: 11,596,327 2007 Japanese sales:5,353,648.

More than 2:1

Imports: 280,000 in 2006

What is that 5.2%?



Remember that includes GM, Ford, VW, Mercedes etc.


Thru April of 2009
GM--581,852 sold in the US of which 22,624 were not from the US, Canada or Mexico.
Ford--457,172 """""""""""""""""""""""" 17,127""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Toyota--486,211" """"""""""""""""""" 198,630........................................................

 

Hmmm, After reading the first few paragraphs, it sounded like the U.S. helping Iran with their nuclear development...but read on - it does make sense. Think Microsoft.... The Japanese are very smart business folks...

---------------------------------------------------
Toyota mulls giving GM hybrid help / Said ready to share key technology


(May. 25, 2009)

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering offering the company's core technology for hybrid vehicles to struggling General Motors Corp. of the United States, it has been learned.
The possible move comes on the back of speculation that GM will soon file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
According to sources, Toyota is essentially ready to provide the technology if GM asks it to do so, even if the U.S. firm becomes subject to the Federal Bankruptcy Code.
The technology Toyota is considering providing to GM is patented technology for increasing fuel economy by controlling the movement of the engine and the motor. The technology is used in the Prius and some other Toyota vehicles. Fuel economy using Toyota technology far exceeds that achievable with technology developed by GM.
One reason seen behind GM's current travails is that the company fell behind in the field of environment-friendly technologies, which, coupled with spiraling gasoline prices caused by high oil prices in the first half of 2008, resulted in a sharp fall in sales of large gas-guzzling vehicles.
Toyota is therefore considering offering indirect support for GM's reconstruction by providing the company with its hybrid vehicle technology. Toyota, for its part, would benefit by having its hybrid technology effectively become the de facto world standard.
In addition, sources said Toyota sees potential in such a move for easing any potential recurrence of Japan-U.S. tensions in the auto industry as successive major U.S. carmakers plunge into financial crisis.
Another consideration in offering the technology to GM is said to be Toyota's desire to prevent a further weakening of the North American market.
If GM's reconstruction fails, huge numbers of jobs will be lost, which could lead to a further decline in the U.S. market where the sales of new cars has fallen to the 9 million level at an annualized rate.
U.S. vehicle parts manufacturers that supply parts to Toyota also supply parts to GM and other companies, meaning the problems affecting GM could have repercussions on Toyota, including on the firm's manufacturing and sales operations in North America.
Toyota and GM have not formed a capital alliance, but do have cooperative relations. For example, they are partners in a joint venture for manufacturing small cars in the United States.
GM is said to have fallen behind in hybrid technology as it prioritized developing vehicles powered by fuel cells, which are seen by some as having the potential for creating the ultimate low-pollution cars.
Toyota is expected to post losses for two consecutive years, with its operating profit expected to be 850 billion yen in the red in the consolidated settlement of accounts in fiscal 2009.
While the Japanese market continues to struggle, rejuvenation of the North American market is seen as essential for Toyota, according to a senior executive of the company.

 

Thanks for the link to jama. Very interesting.

 

You're being disingenuous, malorn. You forgot this number for 2007 ...
exports: 6,550,173

They're producing twice as many as they need for the JAPANESE market. But not twice as many as they need overall.

 

The point is their industrial policy encourages vehicles to be built in Japan and exported, keping the money and jobs in Japan. The US industrial policy states: as long as the US politicians are wined and dined enough, any amount of economic raping and pillaging will be allowed.

 

For all that must know. Yes there have been talks of putting a plant in the US for building the Prius. I don't know what the eventual outcome to that will be but it was in the works and probably still is if demand increases.

Malorn, you sound like I used to. I sold Pontiac, GMC trucks for years and grew up 2 blocks outside of Detroit. I have supported the US auto industry for so long looking and turning a blind eye to everything that they have done. Whether it is building and producing technology that for the future will not work in this current economy or the fact that they chose to produce sub par product for so long that they got the worst reputation imaginable. Still i supported them. the downfall of the US auto industry has so many different factors involved that I hate to point out 1 or 2. The fact comes down to this, the Prius is a great product at the right time for the near future. You can't deny that nor can anyone else. Toyota does do a part in employing American people to build some of their vehicles. I think the major factor their and what drives people crazy is that they choose as a business model to operate those facilities in non union states. From as far as I know, I don't know of any of the Toyota factories ever having to deal with UAW negotiations and the constraints that union has hamstrung the US auto industry into. Yup I just opened up that can o worms.

 

The Prius is definitely the envionmental vehicle but it is such a tiny slice of the whole pie. What about the other 90-95 % of Toyota vehcles that are NOT hybrids?

This country's wealth is being exported at an amazing rate and that is what I am most disturbed about. At the current clip my kids will either be indentured servants to the chinese or die on a battlefield fighting the Chinese.

 

Well Toyota is a global but independent Japanese company, Obama is President of The United States but I don't think he can mandate that the Prius be built here. Perhaps legislation could be passed that would make it more advantageous for Toyota to decide to build here but I don't think you can force another company to build here as much as you might want them to.

Toyota had solid plans to open a Prius plant here, let's just hope the global and national economy rebounds to the point where it makes sense to everyone.