One of the largest automaker today, Toyota, may soon have to make the decision to dramatically increase its production in and export to the United States. Toyota has experienced serious decline of demand in Japan and if the demand is unable to recover in a short period of time, Toyota would soon have to shift its global production focus to U.S.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda , left, and Gov. Haley Barbour celebrate the unveiling of Missisippi's new license plate on the front of the first Corolla built in Mississippi during a ceremony that marks production start at Toyota's auto manufacturing plant in Blue Springs, Miss
Due to the yen’s strength (gaining 9% against the American dollar in the past 6 months) and parts shortages after the March 11 earthquakes and tsunami, Toyota has lost major part of its sales crown as the world’s biggest automaker to General Motors in the first half of this year. A strong yen with its appreciation against the dollar and euro presents a danger to the Japanese manufactures (the profit of Japanese automakers has decreased by $4.3 billion). Not only does it reduce the competitiveness, it also reduces the value of earnings when overseas profits are translated to yen. Facing this crisis of decline in the competitiveness and profitability of Japanese manufactures, President Akio Toyoda said that if demand does not recover, Toyota would have to move its production focus to United States where there will be several new factories on the go. This is certainly good news for the economy of the United States; not only will this provide a fairly optimistic number of new jobs to help console the unemployment issue, it will also help revive the economy of certain regions in the United States.
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Toyota Motor Corporation Wants More U.S. Production