US Yaris to be imported from France ?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tk-421

How long in the past? I need someone to back this up with some sort of proof. I don't mind being wrong (in fact, sometimes I actually prefer it), but in my mind it just doesn't make financial sense to do this, short- or long-term.

Think about it: The more you buy of exactly the same thing, the cheaper it becomes. For example, buying 10,000 lug nuts made of stainless steel for the US market and then buying 10,000 nuts made of aluminium for the French market will indeed cost more than just getting 20,000 of SS lug nuts for every market in the first place.

But even if that weren't the case (maybe they have some sort of government subsidy on aluminium in that region), it would still cost them much, much more in the long run to recall tens of thousands of vehicles to exchange the crappy lug nuts at the factory. Not only that, but the image that would project onto consumers (and even worse, potential consumers) would compound the problem even more so.

So, again, unless someone can prove to me that a recent enough car (manufactured within the last 10 years mostly by robots) is a POS not because of the quality of the design, or the way it was maintained, or the quality of the roads in the area, but directly because of a crappy part which can only be found in France, or Mexico, or Thailand, or whatever, I will not be satisfied with that explanation (nor should anyone else IMHO). Until then I will maintain that some of those comments are baseless, and others even biased and bordering on racist.

In each of the three articles I mentioned in my last paragraph on post #96 one of the central themes was the trend toward the most localized content possible for each market. This would prompt me to ask how large a role transportation costs(+potential tariffs+taxes+concessions) might play in the overall equation. From what I gathered from these articles, they might play a significant role.

I think the participants on this particular thread can be grouped into two categories (among others)--1. Those who want more information and want a more comprehensive view of the overall situation, and 2. Those who don't. I agree that it could be argued that some of the comments ( smelly French savages , lazy Mexicans, etc.) are borderline racist, but I think ALL of those comments fall into my second category above. They don't care about learning anything from this discussion, so I think bringing that up is kind of a red herring as none of us who has continued to post on this thread has been part of that category.

The illustration you make in the 'Think about it' section of your post makes sense (Economy of Scale), but it only makes sense in a naked way if the other related costs are the same....and they may or may not be depending on the location.