Toyota to assemble Prius in US

For the first time outside Japan or China in its 10 years history. Toyota is re-tooling its Blue Springs, MS plant (still under construction) originally designed for Highlander SUVs to produce Prius by late 2010. Hopefully the plug-in version by then.

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Reply to
fuelzilla.com
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I'm a little concerned about the industrial and technical skill level of the local workforce in MS. I hope the quality does not suffer because Toyota wants to build in the US. Choosing a low-wage, unorganized workforce to build a sophisticated hybrid means there could be quality problems in the future.

Reply to
Doug

After WWII we criticized the junk coming out of Japan. There we were, industries on a war-time footing, supplying a devastated world hungry for everything we could crank out. I think they are called "the good old days."

Reply to
Was Istoben

Spoken like a true union man. But the thing that is driving industry out of Michigan and elsewhere is the simple fact there is skilled labor in the south that is hungry for good work. Hungrier and more willing to work than organized union labor. That Toyota will pay about twice what Mississippians can get elsewhere, and still pay about 1/3rd what it would cost in CA or the union north.

Not all of the cost is wages. Taxes are recursive, contrary to the opinion of the left government can not "soak the rich" without raising everyone's taxes. The higher the tax rate the more profit one must expect out of a venture to make it worthwhile.

Businesses pay taxes but businesses are not taxed. All business taxes are operating expenses which are passed down the chain. All business taxes increase the cost of product by the amount of the tax plus a handling fee.

The higher the property taxes the more everyone must make to maintain the same standard of living. The clerk at 7-11 has to be paid more in order to pay the higher rent his/her landlord has to charge for higher property taxes and income taxes. Which inflates the cost of the merchandise.

To my knowledge there has been only one failure of a foreign car manufacturer moving to the USA. Was Volkswagen into a union shop, Pennsylvania, starting with the 1985 model year. I owned a PA-built 1986 VW Golf. Its body didn't have a straight seam. The bottom front edge of the rear doors stuck out and caught rocks, were always chipped. The rear hatch gap at the top right was big enough to stick my thumb up to the first joint. Left side would barely let the tip of my thumb in. To the engineers' credit it didn't leak.

The Jetta of the same year was manufactured in Germany. Significantly better workmanship. Also cost 10% more than a Golf.

Reply to
David Kelly

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