Posted on 05/30/2018 7:30:52 AM PDT by SpeedyInTexas
Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that its exports to the U.S. rose 22% in April, highlighting the problem it faces if the Trump administration makes good on threats to impose higher tariffs on imports.
The problem is crystallized in one model: the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle. It is the most popular Toyota among American consumers—and none are made in the U.S. More than half are imported from Japan, while the rest are made in Canada and imported tariff-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The goal of tariffs isn't to raise the price to US consumers. The goal is to force manufacturing to take place in the US.
Donald doesn't make threats, it was a campaign promise AND he keeps his promises.
Toyota has a choice, make the car here or pay.
Actually, Toyota has said they plan to make the 2019 RAV4, coming late in 2018, at least at one of its US assembly lines. Possibly the assembly used to make the Camry, since the new RAV4 shares a lot of commonality in parts with the Camry.
If BMW can build cars here, so can Toyota. It’s about American jobs, they can locate in right to work states to avoid the union hassles.
The Ford F-150 is the best selling vehicle in America, by far!
I believe my Tundra was made in Indiana.
Interesting.
You probably have more information than me, but the article addressed this issue. It stated:
“Toyota technically could produce at least some RAV4s in Kentucky, since the Camry and RAV4 share a common architecture. It isn’t likely to do that, however, because it would create waste, something that is anathema to Toyota’s production engineers. Upgrading the Kentucky plant would result in unneeded RAV4 capacity once the Canadian expansion is finished.”
Better check the plate. Most Tundras and Tacomas are made in San Antonio.
Also, “Toyota used to produce some RAV4s in Mississippi, but stopped doing that so it could centralize North American production of the vehicle in Canada. That saves costs in part by simplifying the supplier base.”
“Time for auto tariffs. When I mention on FR, Germany and Japan need to manufacturer in the US, people always say, “they are already”. Well, a larger percentage of their cars aren’t made here. The Rav4, the best selling Toyota is made entirely abroad.”
Very true! Before Tesla took over the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA I visited with an engineering group. They were building Corollas ( and a Pontiac derivative called the Aztek), and small Toyota pickups. All that plant “manufactured” were the sheet metal parts for the bodies. All the “high-value” parts were coming from Japan, along with the pickup beds. And I suspect that that is the way all the foreign automakers “manufacture” here in the US. As for the Germans, VW, BMW, and Mercedes “manufacture” here, but as far as I know, Porsche and Audi, do not! Same for the Indian-British cars. Trump needs to dramatically increase the “domestic content” in all of the foreign cars, or put tariffs on them.
Tacoma’s are built in San Antonio. Toyota left Cali long ago and moved to a Right to Work State.
Why are Toyota trucks made in San Antonio?
Because LBJ’s chicken tax of 25% on imported trucks forced production into the US. Although NAFTA lets them also produce in Canada/Mexico now.
Maybe only good thing LBJ ever did???
It's worth noting that Toyota isn't producing these things in Malaysia or Mexico. Japan is not a cheap place to manufacture cars, so there must be a damn good reason why they can produce a RAV4 there and pay the cost of shipping it across the Pacific Ocean, and still sell it at a price where it is one of their best-selling vehicles in the U.S.
Canada and Japan are hardly the type of trading partners that should be driving U.S. tariff policies.
Honda CR-V (377,895 sold) ...
Toyota Camry (387,081 sold) ...
Nissan Rogue (403,465 sold) ...
Toyota RAV4 (407,594 sold) ...
Ram Pickup (500,723 sold) ...
Chevrolet Silverado (585,864 sold) ...
Ford F-series (896,764 sold) ...
So you’re quite right, and when you look at these data, it’s clear that the US automakers are not “automakers,” but rather “truckmakers,” and collectively they outsell the foreign autos by a wide margin. I guess the CAFE standards, which drove the American Station Wagon out of the market, have resulted in Americans turning to pickups to get what they want and need. We’re on our second Avalanche, which is now out of production, so when it’s replaced, I guess we will buy a pickup or a Suburban.
I had to check, pre 2008 were made in Princeton IN, after 2008 are made in San Antionio. 275,000 miles and still going strong!
So Georgetown, KY?
Toyota makes tons of cars here, and did so long before BMW built their SC facility.
And I’m not a Toyota driver. Though my in-laws did buy an Avalon (built in the USA) a few years ago to replace a Cadillac. My FIL had bought my MIL Caddys for many years. I was surprised to see the Avalon, but he was tired of GM unreliability.
I think the Ford F-150 has been the #1 vehicle in America for 30 years running! Rather amazing.
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