US Yaris to be imported from France ?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tk-421

Regarding availability of raw materials, I can safely state that some of the countries that a few people here are having problems with have a huge advantage over some of the more established "car making countries". I'm not going to go into details here, but 5 mins. spent on Wikipedia will give anyone a good enough idea of how raw materials are distributed around the world. Mexico, for example, has ample amounts of pretty much everything that's needed to build a car from scratch, whereas Japan tends to have a bit of a harder time getting everything together (which is why is costs more to build a Prius than a Hummer).

Regarding transportation costs, I would think that moving an entire production line to Mexico to cater to the US and Canada markets would be a huge plus as well, considering that it would somewhat cheaper to move finished cars up the border instead of across the ocean.

Then again, they are going to be building cars in France and moving them across yet another ocean so, like you say, there must be other factors at play...



I think keeping costs low is only part of the equation. Keeping current customers loyal and gaining new ones is of crucial importance as well. But if I were to boil it all down to one word, it would be this: Consistency. It is unequivocally the most important thing for any company in any market. You have to hit as many high marks with as little money as you possibly can, and you have to do it reliably enough.

In my opinion, Toyota has been very consistent over the years, and I would think they would rather perform mass-harakiri before they started gambling with something that takes so much time and dedication to earn. If they're willing to move entire factories (and thus deprive their local population of jobs), I'm pretty sure it's for very good reasons (i.e. there has to be some advantage to building cars on areas that don't have earthquakes every 5 minutes).

I guess that's basically why I'm being so stubborn about this. That and my general faith in people, no matter where they sprouted from. Sure, there are many bad apples out there, but I think most people mean to do good (as in good products, good deeds, etc) if they're given a fair shake. And that's what consistency is all about, right?

I pulled up Yarisworld this morning and read this post. Quite interesting --- especially about the raw materials available in Mexico and effects of the earthquake. I hadn't thought about either of those things. While reading what you wrote about Mexico I started thinking about how it is really starting to become a 'sweet spot' so to speak for auto production, especially for the U.S. market and that the availabilty of raw materials you discuss has got to be part of the cost reduction equation. The next thought that popped into my head is that NAFTA is likely also part of the equation. I didn't have time to reply this morning and am only now coming back to the site.

While I was booting up my computer a few minutes ago a particular thought popped into my head: I've read quite a few very intelligent replies on this thread (many smart people here!) but there is one thing it seems (by reading the posts) that all of us (including me) have failed to do up to this point, and that is......do an internet search titled "Why is Toyota moving production of the U.S. spec Yaris to France". I did this search on the DuckDuckGo search engine and the top ranked hit provided some concise answers. This top ranked hit is a Yahoo News! reprint of a Reuters article. The two 'lead' reasons in the article--- 1. The strong Yen (which we have already discussed and would explain the move outside Japan, but not to any specific location) and 2. SOARING ENERGY COSTS---Aha---not discussed in the article, but I know France has been touted for its high percentage of Nuclear power providing cheap (cheaper than some alternatives) , clean, and reliable energy. The article mentions other reasons---labor regulations (I would think must be re Japanese law -- not union specific (I would think) as I've read Toyota's union (specifically) is rather toothless----also High Corporate taxes---and also (the last reason mentioned).....and this somewhat ties into an earth shattering (ha ha) point tk-421 mentioned.......THE LACK OF COMING TO AGREEMENT ON A PROPER ENERGY POLICY IN THE WAKE OF THE EARTHQUAKE.

Sorry this post is a bit disjointed---I neglected to bring my power cord with me----the battery in my laptop is about to die and I want to get this posted before the battery dies and I likely lose the post.