Well, no. With the yen rising against the dollar, it makes more sense than ever before for a Japanese company to manufacture in the U.S.
I suspect the suspension/delay of that plant in Mississippi has been driven entirely by the fact that Toyota was planning to build the Prius there, starting in 2010. Toyota has probably done some serious thinking about this, and now realizes that they aren't going to be selling enough hybrid cars here in the U.S. to make the plant profitable. For one thing, fuel costs are way down . . . and secondly, the hybrid technology is relatively untested and there may be long-term flaws in it anyway.
Well no. “It makes more sense than ever for a Japanese company to manufacture in the U.S”.
I beg to differ for this reason: A weak Yen has given the Japanese a huge advantage in the U.S. market. Exporting units into the U.S. markets, Japan has taken our dollars and translated them into mega Yen. A stronger Yen will mean less in exchanging their “export” earned dollars for Yen.
For the same reason their transplant factories will experience a reduction in Yen, when at the end of the day they send their “dollar” profits home. In both cases they will have to raise prices in order to maintain their current level of profit. With the U.S. economy in recession, and the car market in a severe downturn, Japan will have to either cut exports to the U.S. or close plants in the U.S. I think they will choose to do the later.