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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.

The problem, though, is that Japan's biggest customer base for their cars is the U.S. Whether they scale back production at home or scale back production here, they're still going to have to sell cars. And if the yen is strong (as it is now), then it's cheaper for them to manufacture them here.

A lot of cars get sold even in a down market.