Are any Toyota products sold in US not 'made or assembled' in US? Half the parts likely come from China, Mexico and similar places. Where would this kind of info be found? Just looking for some rough numbers for an argument. jl
AFIK, the Highlanders are all made in Japan currently as well as a lot of the Camrys but not sure on others. Also AFIK all Avalons are made in US. I saw figures on the web about this fairly recently but don't remember specifics Ron in Ca
You're correct on the Highlanders. They are made in Japan of Japanese parts.
Since you're in Calif, you MAY be getting Japanese Camrys, but here on the East Coast they are 80-90% Made in USA, and the ONE Japanese Camry I saw come onto the lot was made of 75% US parts, same as the ones made in KY!!! No one could tell me why the Content was exactly the same as for the US made Camrys!
ALL Scions are made in Japan, the RAV4's are; the Matrixes (uh, Matrices?) are made in Canada, Tundras in Evanston, IN, Tacomas in Calif. If you can find a leftover Celica, those are Japanese, the Land Cruiser is Japanese, Echo/Yaris made in Japan...
If I missed any, let me know!
Go to
Prius - made in Japan.
Cathy
It depends if one is referring to the Toyota brand or Toyota Motors. If you mean Toyota motors, the majority are made in Japan. Others like the Corolla are assembled in Canada of mostly Japanese materials and the balance, primarily Camrys, Siennas and Tundra's are assembled in the US of, as Toyota now says in it ads, of 'world sourced parts.' Toyota stopped advertising made in America last October after Honda, who actually makes the Accord in the US of mostly US part and has a '1' as the first number of the VIN, complained to the FTC about Toyotas false claim they made vehicles in the US, rather than merely assembling them here. The only vehicles with a 'Toyota' brand on the grill and a '1' as the first number of the VIN, are those made in the GM/Toyota plant in California where the UAW contract requires at least 75% US content. The NA parts label aside, the Camry for example has a '4' as the first number of the VIN which indicates a US total content of less than 70%, but more than 40%. The Tundra on the other hand has a '5' as the first number of the VIN indicating a US content of less than 40%. All hybrid and Lexus' models are imported
mike
"Hachiroku ????" wrote in message news:fg6zh.19$2%1.12@trndny02...
I used to have a 1994 Camry made in USA and currently have a 1997 Camry made in Japan. My 94 Camry was built much more solidly and was quieter than my 97 Camry. Not only that, but when I bought my 97 from the dealer with 62K miles on it the piston rings, valve seals and rocker arms had to be replaced because it was smoking on startups a month later. I will say it has been reliable ever since but it is still cheaper feeling than the 94 Camry.
My friend has a 97 Camry V6 that was built in USA and he has had very few problems with it. He has 205K and recently I got a side mirror for my car and one for his. The difference in padding between the mirror and the door was at least twice more for his mirror than mine. Unfortunately his connector was different than mine otherwise I would have switched mirrors if I could.
On new Toyota products, there is a sticker on the side window that alleges the percentage of parts content made in what country.
Roy
I have had similar experiences. I had an '87 Camry 4 (obviously Japan, US manufacture hadn't started), best car ever. I bought a used '90 V6 after that, American made, it took $2000 to bring it up to normal, after that is was OK, but dying at 170K. A '96 after that, American, luckily a Certified car, it had small issues that were covered under warranty but was a great driver, a Previa, Japanese, bulletproof , a Highlander, 100K with only oil changes and a set of tires, bulletproof, now a 2002 Camry, Japanese, 42K, lost the driver's door locking mechanism (minor), otherwise flawless. My feeling about the Camry from '97 until '02 was that they were not the same car, they seemed to get the clue and made them bigger and better in 2002. I am 6' 4" and could barely fit in the '97 car, I felt hemmed in, hence the '96 purchase. The '02 is perfect.
That's odd, we've not had more issues with the Japanese ones. My 93 was US made, and we had a lot of trouble with the US made alternetor (As MDT Tech would say, it's a Delco-REAMME) My sister bought a 94 that is Japanese made. Same spec as the US 93, doesn't get quite the same mileage, but is a hot little number. The 95's are both US made, but my sister-in-law's Previa is Japanese. The problem we are having with the Previa is the last person that worked on it claimed to have replaced the head gasket, but did not. (That was that Toyota dealer that wanted 2200 in just parts to repair it, when it turned out to be the battery, also they are now starting to fill tires with nitrogen.)
Mike,
I wish you would provide some back up for this explanation of what the "1" means in the VIN. I have read everything I can find on the government websites, and nowhere can I find it claimed than the first digit of the VIN number has anything to do with the domestic content of the vehicle. As far as I can tell it merely identifies the location of the assembly plant and as nothing to do with where the parts come from. If you have some documention that says different, I sure wish you would give us a reference. US assembled Toyotas use 1, 4, and 5 in the first position. 1 = NUMMI (California), 4 = TTMK (Kentucky), 5 = TMMI & TMMCA (Indiana and California). I am not sure what they are using for the new Tundra plant in Texas.
Ed
The Texas Tundra will be a 5. Try searching the US Commerce Department site. Assignment of 1, 4, or 5 has to do with total US content from R & D to assembly, not just parts and absolutely nothing to do with the areas of the country..
If it were area why is it the Lincoln LT truck and the F150, made in the same Michigan plant, do not both have a 1? Why do the Titans made in Tennessee have a 1? Why do the Accords made in Ohio have a 1? Why does the Tundra have a 5, assembled in Indiana and the Camry a 4 assembled in Kentucky when they are all neighboring states, yet all of the Fords made in Kentucky and Ohio have a 1?
One can not buy the steel, plastics, glass, trannies etc, as well as most of the small parts partially assembled, from outside the US then put them all together in the US and earn a 1. Even if a lot of the stuff comes from Canada or Mexico and classed as North American Parts you will get a 4 or 5
mike
OK Mike, I wasted 45 minutes searching the Dept. of Commerce web site and did not find a single reference that relates VINs to domestic contnet. Please post a link to this information. It is my belief it does not exist and that you are confused and combining unrelated information to come up with a relationship that does not now and has never existed. But I am willing to be proven wrong. Please don't repeat the erroneous information. Give up some proof!
And, while your Mustang GT might have a high US content, the V-6 Automatic models only have 65% domestic contnetn, but still get a 1 in the first digit of the VIN - explain that one (V-6 Automatics European built engines and transmissions).
Ed
Miek, I spent another 45 minutes searching FTC, DOT, and NHTSA web sites, and there is no evidence that WMI (World Manufacturer Indentifiers - i.e., the first three digits of the VIN) have any relationship whatsover to the percentage of domestic contnent. The first digit does indicate the country of assembly, but not where he parts actually came from.
As far as I am concerned, unless you can prevent compelling evidence to the contraty, your assertion that the firist digit of the VIN is related to domestic content is a milsleading statement.
I did come across the following information:
"Domestic Content Label
All Ford vehicles produced on or after October 1, 1995 bear a Domestic Content Label affixed to the fuel economy label, price sticker or other readily visible label This label communicates:
- Vehicle line average percentage (value- based) of domestic content (U.S. and Canadian)
- The names of at least two of the countries (if any) providing 15 percent or more (by value) of all components
- City and country of final assembly
- The country of origin of the engine and transmission/transaxle
IS THIS LABLE STILL REQUIRED? I looked at the window sticker for my 2006 Frontier and 2007 Fusion and neither includes this information.
Domestic Content by Brand (2005 - sales weighted) BMW 10% Chrysler (domestic brands) 78% Ford (domestic brands) 78% GM (domestic brands) 74% Honda/Acura 59% Hyundai/Kia 3% Isuzu 79% Mitsubishi 36% Nissan/Infiniti 46% Subaru 26% Toyota/Lexus 47% Volkswagen/Audi 4%
Cars.com's American Made Index rates vehicles put together and purchased in the U.S. Factors include where the cars' parts are made, where the cars are assembled and how many are sold in the U.S.. Eligible models must have a domestic-parts-content rating of 75 percent or more, the minimum federal standard for a car to be labeled domestic.
The American Made Index
Make/Model - U.S. Assembly Location(s)
*Excludes Ford F-650, F-750
**Excludes hybrid ***Excludes discontinued TrailBlazer EXTMike - PING - any proof on the VIN indicating domestic content?
I had heard this when I was working at a Toyota dealer.
I think you can find this in the NADA book. Check
The information I saw while working at Toyota does not agree with what Mike says.
Here is a link to the NHTSA's site regarding VIN requirements:
If that link does not work, try
I found nothing on that site that claims the VIN number indicated % of domestic contnet. The WMI (first three digits) does indicate that the vehcile was assembled in one of a number possible plants in a particualrly country but nothing more.
Ed
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray O" Newsgroups: alt.autos.toyota Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 12:07 AM Subject: Re: Are any Toyota products sold in US not made or assembled in US?
I have read everything I can find about the WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier - the first three digits of the VIN) on the NHTSA, FTC, DOT, and EPA web sites. I have not found a single reference that claims the WMI is related to domestic content. The way I read things, it is actually possible (if not likely) that a vehicle with a "J" in the first position could actually have a higher domestic content than one with a "1". The "J" just indicates the car was assembled in a plant in Japan. The "1" indicates the car was assembled in a US plant. Neither indicates where the parts actually came from.
Mike Hunter keeps repeating that the first digit of the VIN indicates domestic content. Maybe it does, but I can't find anything to confirm this. If this was the case, I would think there would be some reference to this outside of a Mike Hunter post.
Ed
I've looked all over and have not been able to confirm Mike's assertion either. His response is usually "look it up yourself, WBMA," which doesn't help make his case.
I suspect that each automaker has its own system for determining the first 3 digits for a vehicle. I've seen Toyota's internal documents which give a completely different explanation from Mike's, and I would not be surprised if the system that he gives is what Ford, but not necessarily all automakers, use.
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