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  #1  
Old 03-03-2007, 10:04 AM
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Ahhso...can you say voodoo economics

WASHINGTON - From a high school auditorium near the birthplace of Elvis, Toyota was greeted like a hometown hero this week when it announced its eighth vehicle assembly plant in North America.

Students cheered as the automaker showed off a Highlander sport utility vehicle that will be built starting in 2010 at the $1.3 billion plant near Tupelo, Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour called Toyota Motor Corp. the “world’s premiere auto manufacturer,” and Sen. Trent Lott, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, promised “when you are in our constituency, we are warriors on your behalf.”

Toyota’s choice of Mississippi for a new plant should give it more clout on Capitol Hill. With Michigan-based automakers facing hardships, a few more members of Congress on its side helps as Toyota takes on some lawmakers who openly question whether what’s good for Toyota and other Japanese automakers is good for America.

“They’re manipulating the yen and it creates big differences in what they can sell their automobiles for,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who represents thousands of Detroit-based auto workers. “Most of their vehicles are still coming from Japan.”

Stabenow and other lawmakers representing manufacturing states complain that the Japanese government has kept the yen artificially low, allowing their auto producers to undercut competitors and reap huge profits in the United States. They note that 46 percent of Toyota’s U.S. sales in 2006 came from vehicles imported from Japan, even as the company highlights its American work force and assembly plants in advertising.

whole story;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17422108/

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  #2  
Old 03-03-2007, 10:33 AM
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It's telling that some buyers, being aware that some of the same Japanese models are made in USA, and others are made in Japan, specifically request to be sold the model that was made in JAPAN
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  #3  
Old 03-03-2007, 01:55 PM
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Is it bad that cars with a Japanese name are made in the US? At least our economy benefits from the labor investment, and not all of the cash is exported when you buy a car made here.
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  #4  
Old 03-03-2007, 02:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dlssmith View Post
Is it bad that cars with a Japanese name are made in the US? At least our economy benefits from the labor investment, and not all of the cash is exported when you buy a car made here.
No I do not believe it is bad at all. What is bad is when the manipulated yen vs the dollar is not in ratio it creates an unfair trading platform and it makes it tougher on US made products to survive. With US labor costing what it does to mfr's of auto and otherwise how can a level playing field be attained.

A few years ago in my industry we had Micron heavily lobby the US goverment to impose anti-dumping penalties against their Korean competitors. Not only was it 50-60% cheaper to manufacture Dram in Korea but when fabs got in trouble the Korean goverment would issue favorable loans creating a no lose situation for pacific rim exporters.

What I found suprising about the article is that the true #'s aren't really published and may never be simply because Toyota is a foreign owned company. How could a US mfr compete with this? I really wonder what kind of loans and favors is the US giving to firms like Toyota to create a mfg presence here in the US and do you believe that the Korean or Chinese goverments are doing the same to lure US entities to their homeland..I think not..

For this to continue and allowing profits to held offshore is just putting a band aid on a very real large problem IMHO
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  #5  
Old 03-03-2007, 05:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim B. View Post
It's telling that some buyers, being aware that some of the same Japanese models are made in USA, and others are made in Japan, specifically request to be sold the model that was made in JAPAN

Yep, when I saw that the new Rav4 my mom bought was 100% built in Japan I considered it a plus!

So what Toyota is providing a lot of manufacturing jobs, I say good for them! The more plants Toyota or any other company opens in this country the better.

Toyota opens a plant in the US which creates thousands of jobs for Americans and they get flack.
Ford and GM close down US plants left and right and move them to Mexico and Cananda, yet they are the good guys.
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  #6  
Old 03-03-2007, 05:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammertime View Post
No I do not believe it is bad at all. What is bad is when the manipulated yen vs the dollar is not in ratio it creates an unfair trading platform and it makes it tougher on US made products to survive. With US labor costing what it does to mfr's of auto and otherwise how can a level playing field be attained.

A few years ago in my industry we had Micron heavily lobby the US goverment to impose anti-dumping penalties against their Korean competitors. Not only was it 50-60% cheaper to manufacture Dram in Korea but when fabs got in trouble the Korean goverment would issue favorable loans creating a no lose situation for pacific rim exporters.

What I found suprising about the article is that the true #'s aren't really published and may never be simply because Toyota is a foreign owned company. How could a US mfr compete with this? I really wonder what kind of loans and favors is the US giving to firms like Toyota to create a mfg presence here in the US and do you believe that the Korean or Chinese goverments are doing the same to lure US entities to their homeland..I think not..

For this to continue and allowing profits to held offshore is just putting a band aid on a very real large problem IMHO
See I don't know about this. Just about every Toyota model costs more than the comparible Ford or GM model. Look at there new full size truck it costs about $5k more. The Camry a few grand. Then when you figure in factory discounts that GM and Ford are offering the price gap gets much larger, yet they still sell. They may be holding the Yen low, yet these cars still cost more. I wonder if they let the Yen rise and say the base sticker on a Camry increased $2k if that would matter that much. I don't think so.
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  #7  
Old 03-03-2007, 10:06 PM
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I do not believe the manipulation of the yen affects their price model here one bit, especially in todays marketplace. Where this manipulation really played importance was years ago when they entered our market here in the US. Back then they were a fair priced, economical (due to the gas crunch) vehicle. Certainly priced initially lower than most american autos in that time.

The manipulation of the yen comes into play on their end back home, we'll never even get a wiff of that here in the US. Ammortization of higher priced american manufactured goods along with their much cheaper costs overseas brings the GP line to make it worthwhile for them to be here. They need service points and presence here in the US anyway. Back home it doesn't matter if the loans get paid back well then how can't they build a stronger product over time.

They came here with our govt incentives initially and generated deep pockets, investing in R&D while US mfrs became besieged with overhead and faced cut backs in several areas. Now Toyota has US marketshare, 600 pound gorilla in a suit, and now we have to copycat their business model. Now they charge what they want or feel market will bear.

I want to add by no means am I a rice-burner hater, they do engineer a nice product IMHO. However have you noticed that most of the asian imports do not even look like US cars anymore, they look more european. Even Korean brandslike Hyundai are building a product that resembles the Jag, which is an old Taurus anyway...except those BIG trucks...much like GM used to build
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  #8  
Old 03-03-2007, 10:13 PM
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I'm not sure I would call the yen weak vs. the dollar.

First, the yen and the dollar are freely floating in world markets. The market determines the value of a currency.

We have a huge trade deficit with Japan, which means the Japanese are selling / converting dollars into yen to bring the money back home.

We also have a huge budget deficit, and the Fed sells debt in the form of bonds, which the Japanese / Chinese and other governments in the world buy. The more debt we have to finance, the further it drives down the value of the dollar.
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  #9  
Old 03-03-2007, 10:34 PM
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Shmokin
 
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I am not implying the yen is week vs the dollar...I am saying the rice isn't all getting cooked over there

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