Toyota is planning to build two new assembly plants in North America by the end of the decade, according to a report by Japanese newspaper Mainichi.
The first plant will begin building cars in 2009, with a capacity of roughly 200,000 units per year. It will be used to assemble compact cars like the Yaris hatch and sedan.
The second plant would open a year later in 2010 and be used to build SUVs or crossovers. The location of the second plant is not known, but the Yaris facility is believed to be target for the northern midwest. Toyota has not officially confirmed any of the Mainichi report.
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10/30, 10:38 AM
posted by:
Veda
You’re gonna complain about the japs not providing any jobs to American workers? Oh I forgot we got union heads here…
10/30, 10:52 AM
posted by:
davidg1977
Here’s a spot for a major coup.
Will the Gov of Michigan (Granholm or DeVos it doesn’t matter) be able to convince the UAW not to fight for inclusion and provide the proper tax incentives to get one of these plants built in Michigan? The employee skill level is there, the want for work is there, and no relos would be required. I just hope the Japanese wouldn’t be too scared off by the UAW… And if the UAW is out for the good of the worker and not the good of the executive board and the local leadership councils, they’d be sprinting to Japan today to push for one of these facilities.
If I was Wagoner, LaSorda or Mullaly, I’d be begging for these guys to come into town. It would provide benchmark for a union-centric state to have an automotive manufacturing plant in the state that in non-union and help push their own factories away from the mothership and also get the workers that Ford and GM have furloughed/laid off (the bought out guys are off the books as of 2009) off of their payrolls and onto someone elses.
This will also better define market prices for labor in the state.
If either Granholm or DeVos could pull this off, they’d be the Governor for as long as they wanted to be…
10/30, 12:36 PM
posted by:
90Z
@davidg1977: Nice plan, but I doubt it’ll happen. Read why in the following article:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061027/AUTO02/610270353/-1/ARCHIVE
10/30, 12:40 PM
posted by:
BrokenCadillac...
This is a good thing. Those folks at the closing domestic plants will have a place to work. They’ll also have the security of knowing they are working for a company that is on the “up and up” rather than the roller coaster ride they are currently on (Will my plant be the next to be axed!?!?!?!?)
Sure Toyota does not have as many plants as say, GM. That ‘ll take some time.
10/30, 1:22 PM
posted by:
GL1
Detroit would be a very good location for these plants but I don’t see the UAW cooporating on ANY of this. Which is a LOT of the problem FORD and CHEVY and CHRYSler currently has with competeing with the Japanese to start with.. its the UAW…
10/30, 1:29 PM
posted by:
Asher
Why not let Toyota just buy out some of GM and Ford’s plants and get the workers right along with it! At least Toyota’s profitable business models could potentially the support the worker’s wages and benefits. And then, maybe we could just re-name America “Japan” to properly reflect the US Automakers downfall…just a sarcastic post so dont freak out, thank you.
10/30, 1:35 PM
posted by:
90Z
@Veda: Here’s an article from this week’s Automotive News…does $10-14.50/hour sound like a good way to pay for your family considering the price of gas, homes, etc. in the US? This salary is not going to get you very far, and being a temporary worker probably means no benefits as well.
Toyota seeks Hispanic hires in Kentucky.
David Barkholz | | Automotive News / October 30, 2006
Toyota Motor Manufacturing is hiring Spanish-speaking workers and teaching them English to tap into a growing labor pool of Hispanics living near its assembly plant in Georgetown, Ky.
Toyota last month brought in the third group of trainees under the program, which began in July 2005.
About 20 trainees are studying English as a second language while learning production jobs and the Toyota Production System, said Toyota spokesman Rick Hesterberg. They earn a starting wage of $10 an hour.
Toyota is diversifying its work force to recognize ethnic minorities as a growing piece of the car-buying market in North America, Hesterberg said.
The trainees will spend about 75 percent of their time in the classroom over the six-month program.
The trainees can earn a raise to $13 an hour, then $14.50, as temporaries. The goal is to hire the trainees eventually as full-time Toyota employees.
The Georgetown plant employs 7,000 permanent workers and hundreds of temporaries, Hesterberg said. The plant makes the Camry, Camry Solara and Avalon.
During the first program, 18 of the 20 trainees graduated to production jobs at Toyota. Hesterberg said Toyota learned that it was easier to run the classes with people who started with the same proficiency in English.
The second class took mostly people with some English skills, while the third features temporaries with minimal English.
10/30, 2:35 PM
posted by:
Asher
“Working on an assembly line making cars ain’t much different than working on an assembly line making Big Macs, it’s no suprise that the wages for both are nearing each other”
—thats an interesting observation and seems accurate. Soon washing golf carts at the local country club will be a better employment option(w/the free golf of course) and may even require more “skill.”
BUT isn’t it mostly due to technology and automation replacing manual labor? It’s an “old world” job in a “new world” economy where gas almost everywhere is self-service and where self-checkout lines are becoming the norm at supermarkets. At my local grocery, there’s now more Self-Scan Lanes than regular ones! I figured out the trick for how they make it all work: they offer so few full-service lines that those few have such long lines that the self-check option becomes the better choice – ridiculous but it works
10/30, 2:44 PM
posted by:
90Z
@Random Jerk: You missed the point of my post. I’m merely pointing out that working in a Toyota plant is not any better than anywhere else. The wages are lower than the UAW, and for good reason (I agree the plant workers are overpaid). However, the wages are still not what would be considered a good salary in this day & age. I really don’t give a **** who they hire. The language/race issue has nothing to do with it. Blame Automotive News for the article if you think it’s racist. BTW…I believe you made the assumption that I was referring to “illegal aliens,” not me.
10/30, 4:39 PM
posted by:
ironpony42
Unions help no one but themselves. I’d rather work for a non-union company at a lower wage.
10/30, 6:24 PM
posted by:
angelo
Bring them to Indiana, we’ve got GM, Ford, Toyota, another Toyota and now Honda… we’re open for business!
10/31, 5:18 AM
posted by:
Veda
90Z: It doesn’t matter how much they make, if they are really that valuable and skilled then they should be able to find another job somewhere else or move up the chain. The fact is most of them don’t seem to have that capability, thus they get what they deserve and the fact of the matter is, there are plenty of them to fill the positions. So why the complain? I have no sympathy for those guys. I had to work my ass off getting from 25K to 70K in 3 years when I was a “slave” during my “training” in US. They just don’t try hard enough.
10/31, 5:19 PM
posted by:
moogleii
The biggest problem though is that machines can replace people faster than people can acquire new skills to offset being replaced.