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Prius Family production finally coming to the US?

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Danny, Apr 18, 2013.

  1. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    Toyota just sent out an advisory to media that there will be an announcement tomorrow morning in New York related to production. With Earth Day on Monday, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Toyota announces US-based production of the Prius family.

    For those of you who don't know or remember, Toyota has initially planned for the Tupelo, MS plant to be the home of Prius production. The economy nosedive changed those plans, and the plant now operates at a fraction of it's capacity producing Corollas.

    Toyota to Finish Mississippi Plant, Produce Prius-branded Hybrids by 2011 | PriusChat
    Report: Mississippi Prius plant to open in June 2011 | PriusChat

    The announcement will be webcast at 9:30 am Eastern tomorrow morning at Toyota | Home.
     
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  2. mrstop

    mrstop PWR Mode

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    I just heard on the local news this morning that Toyota is adding a new car to its Georgetown, KY plant. No other details were given.
     
  3. Teacake

    Teacake OohShiny

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    I could be totally wrong, but I thought I saw mention that Toyota is planning to add additional hybrid vehicles to their lineup. Possibly this is related? (Danny's is much more plausible! :))
     
  4. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    Georgetown could make sense for the Prius since the other US-based HSD models are produced there (Camry, Highlander, Avalon).
     
  5. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    As long as they continue to offer the option of getting Japanese built ones, that's fine by me. Different cultures have different perceptions of quality. If you build something for your company in Japan, it is an extension of you and there is pride. I find too many workers in the states build for the company just because that is who hired them and they get a paycheque. What do they care if some bolts and screws aren't perfect...
     
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  6. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    That sounds a bit racist.
     
  7. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    From a year ago -
    Toyota Plans US Prius Production By 2015 - HybridCars.com

    Toyota exceeded this number last year and expects to sell more this year.

    Unfortunately the exchange rate has changed again, and toyota could possibly pull US production again, but this cost them a great deal last time. Labor and electricity as long as the obvious transportation is less expensive for US sold hybrids to be made in north america.

    I hope the announcement is that they have committed to the plan to bring this production to the US.
     
  8. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Its not racism in most cases, more of a national bias. However because Japan is so closed off from immigration, the majority of people in Japan, are Japanese, so this could be construed as racism. However, if you have ever been to Japan or even know someone who is 1st-gen expat Japanese you will know that in general they have high honour and respect for their work more-so than almost any other nation. It is a deep rooted cultural phenomenon that doesn't translate well anywhere else including almost all of the "western" nations.
     
  9. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Sure, in those japanese manufactured cars there never is a defect. I mean you could google it, but I'm sure any evidence of defects won't pass muster
    NHTSA investigating 561k Toyota Prius hybrids for possible steering shaft defect

    Most of toyota's reputation in america is on american produced cars. American workers are not worse than Japanese workers. The worst defects are designed into the cars or the manufacturing process. Honda and Nissan have even imported a large number of North American made Hondas and Nissans into japan. Would they do that if the quality just sucked here, because you can't hire a qualified worker. Do you think a US built camry has more or less defects compared to a japanese built yaris?

    I do know when I visit factories in Japan I am expected to drink more alcohol. I don't think that hurts the quality though.;)
     
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  10. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The attitude at the top has a big role to play, and no one is immune to problems. There was once a thread with all the Prius TSBs listed. I do remember my Japanese made Prius had the the loose window moldings.

    I won't get another Prius until they are made here.
     
  11. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Vdub is a very good example of plummeting quality from a change in manufacture to another country -- in their case from Germany to Mexico. OTOH, I think Toyota has maintained quality in their US plants so far, and the Canadian plant that makes Lexus has (per published media) done even better than Japanese.

    I also am skeptical of American workers in general, but a drop in quality of a Toyota car made in the US is thankfully not pre-ordained, if for no better reason than Toyota will not sacrifice quality for near-term profit.

    Productivity per worker may suffer, but cost reductions from local production is the presumably offsetting benefit.
     
  12. Ken Blake

    Ken Blake Active Member

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    One of the nice things about Toyota is that their factories are built to be completely modular, so they can build any model, at any plant, with a minimum of re-tooling.

    There is a book that many may find interesting: The Toyota Way - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    It details how Toyota has managed to retain their excellent level of workmanship, even when building cars in other countries than Japan.

    The REAL reason to prefer a Japan built Toyota is that the NAFTA treaty (foisted on us by Slick Willy Clinton) forces Toyota to use a certain percentage of parts manufactured in the U.S. in cars they build here. These parts are often of substandard quality when compared to their Japanese counterparts. A clear example of this is the drive by wire accelerator assemblies involved in the recall. The U.S. built models were affected, but the Japan built ones had Denso accelerator pedal assemblies, and were unaffected by the recall.
     
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  13. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Yep. I listened to an audiobook on the Toyota Way.

    Re: North American vs. Japanese part quality, yeah, from USATODAY.com - Carmaker follows 'Toyota Way'
    From Robot-filled Tahara sets standard for Toyota, world - Club Lexus Forums (was original on detnews.com but has long been aged off):
    As for the bolded part, well, the CTS (subject to recall and used in most NA-built Toyotas) and Denso (not subject to recall, used in Japanese made Toyotas) pedals were of completely different design and apparently not interchangeable either. See Denso And Cts Gas Pedals Compared | The Truth About Cars.
    It's hard to know if the CTS pedals being recalled was due to them being substandard or due to a design and testing (had to have certain temp and humidity conditions) oversight on the part of CTS, Toyota or both.

    I don't know if the CTS pedal or Denso pedals were some standard existing design that each supplier already had and that Toyota requested some tweaks/changes to or if the suppliers designed the pedals themselves to a given spec and asked Toyota for approval.

    BTW, for those who haven't heard it yet, I HIGHLY recommend listening to Great story on NUMMI on NPR's This American Life | PriusChat. You can listen to it at , if you don't to pay. It used to be a free download via your favorite podcast app.

    It was AMAZING how broken GM's production system, labor relations and worker attitudes were before they finally saw the light in the late 90s and finally spread the lessons learned across the company...
     
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  14. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    My dad works for a company that provides parts for the automotive industry, and my dad works in quality control for that company.

    From discussions with him, my opinion is that quality can be maintained anywhere an automobile is built. The parts themselves don't know that they are being assembled in Japan, The USA, or Mexico....

    And I don't believe that anyone can't be trained and expected to do their job well, be it in Japan, USA or Mexico. As has been pointed out, the quality of Toyota's already being built in the US, is very well respected and high.

    It will be up to Toyota to put in place the same standards and protocols they keep in the manufacturing of all their vehicles, be it in Japan or elsewhere.

    I for one think this is not only possible, but very likely. I wouldn't hesitate to buy an "American" made Prius. And Toyota as an automotive manufacturing giant, must be expected to be a global entity. I for one think it's a very, very good thing that Toyota is expanding their manufacturing in the US.
     
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  15. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Say What? Bill Clinton and Nafta had nothing to do with this. Toyota does import parts from japan for US manufactured cars, as do the two domestically headquartered automakers GM and Ford. All of them slowed production of some models when the tsunami stopped some Japanese parts from being imported.

    I have no idea how anyone knolegeable about the sticky pedals could blame american or canadian auto workers, the fault is completely toyota's and they have been fined for it. But let's dive in

    Thanks following the links we get here.

    Why Toyota Must Replace Flawed CTS Gas Pedal With Superior Denso Pedal | The Truth About Cars

    That says design issue, and toyota signed off on the design. There was no problem in workmanship. Toyota also failed US law by not informing the NHTSA about the design defects when it knew about them in Europe. It has been fined for that breach, but more troubling is they lied about knowing about the defects.


    CTS workers would be perfectly capable of producing a pedal similar to Denso. It is likely Toyota stuck with it, inspite of potential safety concerns, to reduce cost. You can't blame the North American Worker for that. Toyota was using the lower cost pedals in european production. You can't blame NAFTA for that.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/business/30toyota.html


     
  16. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Although I would prefer to see the Mississippi plant start making Prius, I've been to the Georgetown plant three times and I don't remember seeing a whole lot of empty space.

    Tell you what, if they do announce Georgetown, I will be organizing another 'field trip' in October, Columbus Day. If it is Mississippi, we'll have to see what can be arranged AFTER the line opens up.

    I went to the Honda plant on an SAE sponsored tour and have no interest in seeing another ordinary car plant. Ordinary car plants don't have the 'magic mileage' injectors for the hybrid mileage boost. <GRINS>

    Bob Wilson

    ps. Many years ago, I learned GM had taken a Prius completely apart and had it laying on the floor. Apparently they didn't find the 'magic mileage' part that gives the Prius exceptional mileage . . . software in the controllers. You can't see 'software' unless you know what to look for and GM sure as heck didn't.
     
  17. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Wired 14.02: The Teardown Artists

    And there you have it. GM knows how to build it, but didn't have the vision to see people would buy it.

    That was written in 2006, when GM was the largest light vehicle manufacturer and oil prices were lower, and GM thought they would have fuel cells in the affordable range by now. Toyota over took GM in 2008, but the highest volume often comes at a cost.
     
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  18. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    That 2006 article has a curious number, "1,432 propulsion parts (the Malibu has 822)." So I thought I'd see what the various reviewers had to say. This literally was the first one:
    Source: 2006 Chevrolet Malibu Consumer Reviews

    You've reminded me this was 'going broke' GM. It doesn't matter how few parts one has if they are shitty parts that break and wear out and drive your customers away.

    Here is what Edmunds said:
    Source: 2006 Chevrolet Malibu Review | Edmunds.com

    Talk about faint praise!

    Bob Wilson
     
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  19. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Wow. Thanks for the Wired article. I hadn't read it before.

    I always have known automakers were doing teardowns of competitors' products but the article was still quite insightful.
     
  20. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    We can probably arrange a test drive in a 2006 Chevy Malibu:
    Chevrolet : Malibu LS V6 Auto in Chevrolet | eBay Motors

    Maybe a contest:

    2nd Prize - two 2005-6 Chevrolet Malibu
    1st Prize - one 2005-6 Chevrolet Malibu <grins>

    Bob Wilson

    ps. You have to buy the gas.
     
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