A Good Idea? Lexus Ponders Shifting Production To US

As Toyota Motor Corp readies its new Lexus GS luxury car for export to the US in early 2012, the chief executive is raising the possibility that more Toyota production will move outside Japan.

The strong yen, which has risen 9% in the past six months alone, is making the economics of building cars -- especially compacts -- in Japanese factories increasingly difficult. That could eventually make building luxury vehicles -- which deliver the fattest profit margins and have provided manufacturers the most leeway in terms of where they are made -- more complicated. Squeezed by currency, emboldened competitors and a changing market, Toyota is considering doing something it has long resisted out of pride: moving more of its luxury brand manufacturing offshore.

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g2ok - 12/8/2011 1:24:49 PM

+7 Boost

US better than China.

USNA1999 - 12/8/2011 1:25:32 PM

0 Boost

There goes LEXUS reliabilty and quality!

Yonder7 - 12/8/2011 1:53:41 PM

+1 Boost

Which one is a better worker ? Americans or Japanese ?.......

Designer1 - 12/8/2011 2:41:37 PM

0 Boost

Absolutely not. Not just Lexus but ALL Japanese cars should be built in Japan. If Lexus is built outside of Japan, then kiss it goodbye to its quality and reliability. You're simply killing the brand.

Look at Toyota cars and compare their quality and reliability to those of decades old that were build in Japan. All that is lost!

cdndriver - 12/10/2011 4:19:43 PM

+1 Boost

The RX (other than the Hybrid) is built in Canada.

knowitall1985 - 12/8/2011 2:47:37 PM

+2 Boost

Great Idea!! Too many earthquakes in Japan.....

USNA1999 - 12/8/2011 2:53:18 PM

+1 Boost

Designer1 you are absolutely correct! Let me tell you about my moms experience with her 2001 Honda Accord built here in the US:
1. The car only has 38K and the A/C already failed
2. The brake rotors already had been replaced
3. The roof's lining is coming off
4. Paint on door handles came off
5. Numerous recalls
Not sure if she got the lemon out of the group but I remember my buddies 1984 Accord (built in Japan). The car was bullet proof!

cdndriver - 12/10/2011 4:18:22 PM

+1 Boost

The RX is the majority of Lexus sales and is built in North America already, Acura is the same with the majority of the vehicles they sell in North America made here. The only Japanese luxury manufacturer with the entire line up made in Japan is Infiniti although with the release of the JX next year that will change.

Willis - 12/10/2011 6:16:04 PM

+1 Boost

They should since this is their main market. It'll be cheaper to produce and deliver the cars here. The few Lexus they sell outside of North America can easily be exported from our country (and it'll still be cheaper and more profitable for Lexus to do it that way).