Concern Grows That Japan Has Stacked The Deck To Capitalize On Free Trade Partnership

Don't be so short sited GM is a global powerhouse and has adapted to many markets. FYI Japan is a closed market to many foreign automakers.

Trollololol haha

1911, wouldn't American or European companies try selling in Japan if it were feasible? To maintain that there aren't protective measures in place is funny. What other country forces outside companies to literally take each vehicle sold apart to be inspected before it can be sold? I'd like to see how many Toyota's would be sold in North America if the opposite were true.

I can show you links showing protective measures. These are hurdles that the Japanese government puts in place. Japan would violate their free trade agreements if they did a full out ban. Can you stop trying to twist my argument into saying they have a full band of imported products? I never stated this, and, both of us know me supporting such a ludicrous argument would be the only way you are able to prove me wrong lol! Boy you sure do have weak arguments if all you can do is misinterpret and try to get me to support your twisted view points lol.

http://autos.aol.com/article/japan-bias/



"obstacles that may be more effective than tariffs and quotas. They include inspections, complicated distribution systems and taxation."



"The audit process was brutal, he recalls. Inspectors would check off every defect, even if it were well within generally accepted tolerance"



"'They gun-sighted everything with magnifying glasses and flashlights to see if it had to be repaired,' he said. Then Ford teams would correct them, often at great expense. The expense drove up the price of the cars for Japanese consumers."



"The auditors were even tough on vehicles that Ford had given special prepping for the Japanese market, Whitehouse said. "

"He said he had some of Japan’s top U.S. sellers dismantled and inspected in the U.S. and then compared them to Ford models during that period.

'The vehicles we were sending to Japan were superior to the vehicles the U.S was getting back from Japan,'"


"No amount of argument could persuade Ford of Japan’s Japanese executives to relax the standards, he said. They evidently considered it their mission to block vehicles with the smallest, most inconsequential defects"

I'm sorry but I'm gonna back up my own argument. As to uaw_lax, I'm assuming the above quotes are what he is referring to as effectively "closing" a market.

No it isn't.

While the article does provide a historical perspective, it is only using it in contrast to where we were, a decade ago and where we are now. The inspection processes continue to this day.

Japan requires a thorough "inspection" of each and every vehicle entering the country adding thousands of dollars to the base price of every vehicle. Port inspections in the USA are more concerned over drug and firearm trafficking then they are preserving local industry!

If they had inspected the Toyotas before shipping them here there would not have been so many recalls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe they should concentrate on inspecting their own crap and not the imports.What if America did this? In Fiji the Japanese cars rust like crazy while the Australian one hardly.

@ 1911

There are tons of articles showing how the Government keeps their factory rolling.For example the are lots of requirements as the vehicles get older so cars are exported as second hand to the Islands etc.Read this:

When a vehicle is first registered in Japan, it comes with a 3 year Shaken. This is the equivalent to the British MOT. When it expires, the vehicle must be re-tested. This is the most stringent test of this type in the world. The cost for this retest is around £1250.
Further re-tests are required every two years and usually cost more. Sometimes as much as £2000.
There are Japanese dealer incentives offering excellent deals to encourage consumers to always trade up for a new car.

As a result, Japanese consumers buy new cars on a regular basis. (8 million new units per annum in Japan. 2 million in the UK). Used car values depreciate rapidly in Japan. Also, due to the high expense of driving long distances in Japan, cars only tend to cover very low mileages per annum

I didn't realize I was on a religious site..I think I will go home now.