Toyota Increases Export of American Made Cars
Tim Esterdahl | Nov 11, 2011 | Comments 5
Between the relatively low value of the dollar and the steadily increasing demand for vehicles world-wide, Toyota has announced that they will continue to increase the number of U.S. made vehicles exported around the world. This increase in exports is great news for U.S. workers, and it challenges the notion that so-called ‘foreign’ automakers are bad for the U.S. economy.
The Toyota Sienna will join other vehicles like the Tundra in being exported to other countries.
Specifically, Toyota announced that the U.S. built Sienna van will now be exported to South Korea. While the initial expectation is that there will only be a small number of Siennas sent overseas, this is good news for the folks that produce the Sienna at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Princeton, IN (TMMI) and the American economy in general.
With worldwide demand for Toyota cars and trucks increasing, Toyota’s U.S. exports increased 30 percent in 2010 and they will now be shipping U. S. manufactured vehicles to 19 countries.
In addition to exporting the Sienna now, Toyota also exports the Avalon sedan from Georgetown, KY, the Sequoia SUV from Princeton, IN, and the Tundra and Tacoma pickup trucks from the San Antonio, TX. These three plants employ approximately 12,500 workers and create/ support another 65,000 jobs for U.S. vendors and suppliers.
“Toyota’s North American operations are constantly working to identify and expand new export opportunities for the vehicles we produce here, building on our extensive investments in auto production, research and development in the U.S. and helping to maintain a strong, stable base of jobs,” said Yoshimi Inaba, president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. “With this development and other possible achievements in the future, we hope to continue boosting exports from our North American operations.”
While Toyota is often still seen as a ‘foreign’ company, their American roots continue to grow with many U.S. families now grateful for employment opportunities Toyota continues to create. As more and more Americans get clued into the idea that we are in a global economy, companies that create good jobs like Toyota will lose the ‘foreign’ moniker.
What’s more, the dollar shows no signs of increasing relative to other important world currencies. As a result, look for Toyota to export more and more vehicles out of the USA as time goes by.
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Filed Under: Auto News
The funny thing is that the blockheads complain that the profit goes to a foreign company, thats why we should buy American. GM and Chrysler don’t make a profit, so that theory doesn’t hold water. Ford’s profit is held by the executives, not by the workers. I don’t understand those theories at all. If you want to personally gain from a company, you should buy stock in them.
Mike – A very smart point. Profits go to share-holders, not specific companies. I’d also argue that you should try and buy a vehicle built at a local factory, because the cost of building and running a factory is at least half the cost of building a car. If Toyota builds trucks in San Antonio – with 90% of parts sourced in the USA – that means 90% of the parts are locally built. Buying local – be it Toyota or Ford or whoever – is very smart. Too bad a big chunk of your average F150, GM 1500, or Ram 1500 is built in Mexico.
The fact that Jason points out was in a recent TV commerical which aired during the Patriots and NY Giants game last Sunday. The commerical pointed out that the Tundra was more american than Chevy and Ford. I was happy to see this since I’m now a 2011 Tundra 4×4 TRD owner and damn proud of it!
FYI For anyone interested the Georgetown plant in ky is also exporting Camry’s to Korea. We started with the new 2012 model.
Anon – Awesome – thanks for that tip! Appreciate any tips you want to leave us…we love insider info.