Car's parts derived globally

ST.LOUIS JOHN,Any thoughts? Seems like your 400 mile theory isn't a factual statement anymore.

You mean the Fed study in 2001 that said that 76% of tier 1 suppliers were within 400 miles? Sure, there's probably been a slight drop since that time as more work has gone global, but not a ton at this point at least - looking at the domestic percentiles in the article - 68, 75, 76, 81, 82, etc...Which doesn't say how much is within 400 miles, but at least we know it's domestic. My point was to show that it was an inaccurate statement when somebody said that the transplant use all foreign parts while the domestics use all domestic parts. This article shows the fallacy of that myth. The difference is basically negligible - only a couple of percentage points. And the transplants are moving in the *right* direction - increasing domestic content, while the Big Two are moving in the *wrong* direction - more offshoring of parts. Granted this is necessitated through competitive pressures, not because The Big Two want to do this. But within the next year or two, any tiny difference in domestic content between the transplants and the Big Two will be gone.

www.levelfieldinstitute.com

Those level field (an explicit PR institution created by Ford and GM) numbers are somewhat misleading. They take the average for all transplant cars, even the imports. So while domestic-manufactured vehicles like the Camry and Accord have comparable content to other domestic-manufactured vehicles, a Prius or Insight, being a true import, has 0. If you're looking at it this way, this will drastically drag down the overall number.

It's still a myth, when you hear someone say that the Toyotas and Hondas assembled in America use a lot more foreign parts that are imported and the final vehicle is just thrown together here. If it's made in America (no matter what the manufacturer), its parts are mostly from America as well. About three quarters, for pretty much all the makes.

John, Toyota openly admits to spending only 17% of their profits from america back in america.

Home About Us Level the Field Press Room Join Us Donate Blog Contact Us Domestic Content
Level Field’s supporters, nearly all of whom have worked for one of the Big 3 or its suppliers, believe it’s up to you to decide “What’s an American car?”

But if you care about your car company’s contribution to our economy, get the facts.

One way to judge degrees of “made in America” is to look at “domestic content”– the percentage of a car’s parts that were produced in the U.S. and Canada. Automakers report this information to the U.S. government each year. Domestic content varies from brand to brand and vehicle to vehicle.

We believe a more reliable way to judge how much an automaker contributes to the U.S. economy is to look at how many jobs it produces here.(See our scorecards.) However, because so many Americans work for parts suppliers (about 2 to 3 times as many as work for the automakers themselves), domestic content can have a big impact on jobs.

For 2004 cars, domestic automakers (DCX’s Chrysler division, Ford and GM) automobiles contained 80 percent domestic content, while Japanese, European and Korean carmakers used 31, 5 and 3 percent domestic content, respectively.(ATPC)

Data for 2005 remains incomplete. We will post new data once all companies have reported. However, a recent Detroit Free Press article found that the average content of GM, Ford and Chrysler were 81, 82 and 75 percent, respectively. Toyota, Honda and Nissan automobiles contained, on average, 49.9, 58.5 and 48 percent domestic content.

· For the content of specific vehicles, we encourage you to download domestic content

articles can be viewed at www.just-auto.com

The 2004 Prius may have a defect, Toyota said Tuesday. The company recalled nearly a million of its gas-electric hybrid models.(Associated Press)
Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling about two-thirds of the Prius gas-electric hybrid cars it has sold in the United States as part of a global effort to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose steering control.
The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models with more than half of the affected vehicles in Japan, company officials said.
In the United States, the recall includes about 170,000 of the Prius, the top-selling gas-electric hybrid. Owners of these cars will be getting letters by mid-June and can take their vehicles to a Toyota dealer to fix the steering shaft at no charge, said Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong.
Toyota has not received any complaints from U.S. consumers, but the company wanted to address the issue quickly to protect its reputation, Kwong said.
"We're very concerned," he said. "We're not going to wait until we get complaints from U.S. consumers."
In Japan, the recall involves a total of 565,756 vehicles manufactured under the Wish, Isis, Prius, Corolla, Corolla Runx, Corolla Fielder, Corolla Spacio, Allex and Ractis brands between September 2002 and November 2005, according to the statement.
In Europe, the recall involves about 240,000 vehicles, including the Prius, Corolla and Avensis. An additional 10,000 vehicles are being recalled in other parts of the world, including China and New Zealand, he said.
The recall follows more than 30 complaints filed with Toyota since March 2004, the carmaker said. The company wasn't aware of any accidents attributed to the faulty parts, it said.
But the intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose steering control, the Japanese automaker said in a statement

JAPAN: Toyota recalls 880,000 SUVs
19 May 2005| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Toyota has recalled 880,000 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks worldwide due to front suspension problems.

JAPAN [updated 12:45GMT]: Toyota recalls 57,000 Lexus cars
13 April 2006| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Toyota is recalling 11,000 Lexus cars in Japan and 46,000 overseas to fix a faulty seat belt part, according to news agency reports.

USA: Toyota recalls up a million this year
2 December 2005| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
US government records show the number of recalled Toyota vehicles has doubled this year

JAPAN: Toyota recalling minivans and ambulances
4 April 2006| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Toyota Motor will recall over 73,000 minivans across nine models and over 3,000 ambulances due to defective front propeller shafts or brake boosters, the company said on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

USA/JAPAN: Toyota recalls Prius worldwide to fix electrical gremlins
14 October 2005| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Toyota is recalling 75,000 Prius petrol-electric hybrid cars in the US because their engines can stall due to an electrical problem, as part of a global recall of 160,000 units.
JAPAN: Toyota recalls 111,000 cars
1 June 2005| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Toyota Motor will recall about 111,000 Crown, Crown Majesta and Mark X passenger cars produced between September 2003 and February this year [and sold in Japan] due to a defect in their braking system that caused an accident earlier this year and possible petrol leakage, Kyodo News reported.

Ron wrote:

John, Toyota openly admits to spending only 17% of their profits from america back in america.

What do you mean by this? It's a public company, not a private one. So outside of capital expenses, salaries (for which the high-paid executives, granted, are mostly Japanese, not American), the "profits" of the company end up in stockholder hands. And more TM stock is traded on the NYSE than the Nikkei. And while you can't universally say that everyone who trades on NYSE is American and everyone who trades on the Nikkei is Japanese, it's safe to say that more Americans hold the stock than Japanese do.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, all this talk about the nationality of the ownership of all these internationally, publicly traded companies. The company is really "owned" by millions of people across the globe.

the profits end up in the hands of the stockholders lol oh you are funny, a very small percentage goes to the stockholders, the bulk of the profit 83% goes into the japanese economy supporting their people not ours lol. you either work for a foreign company or are a part of the anti american media that loves to badger american companies.. If all the profits go to the stockholders show the percentage,,,,,,,,

Ron wrote:

the profits end up in the hands of the stockholders lol oh you are funny, a very small percentage goes to the stockholders, the bulk of the profit 83% goes into the japanese economy supporting their people not ours lol. you either work for a foreign company or are a part of the anti american media that loves to badger american companies.. If all the profits go to the stockholders show the percentage,,,,,,,,

83% of the profits went into the Japanese economy, eh? Sure missed that on their earnings calls. Given that currently every analyst in the world believes that TM's 11B profit last year is sitting on its present balance sheet, everyone's in for a real shock when Toyota comes out with their surprise announcement that they're going back and taking a $9.1 billion (83% of 11 billion) write-off for "supporting the Japanese economy." By contrast, Enron "only" hid-inflated-profits by 4 billion, so that's going to be some scandal...

Didn't happen.

oh you have to be nuts john,,, their profits go to japan while a small amount goes to american workers and a few new building, the majority of all their design and testing is dont in Japan. if toyota is so good for america why do they not put all production and desing here where they are selling these products.

The only reason Toyota is in the US is because the labor is cheaper and they save on taxes and freight. It is a Japanese company. How much of Exxon’s profit stays in Saudi Arabia?

Ron wrote:

the majority of all their design and testing is dont in Japan.

Depends on the vehicle model. For some, yes. For others, no. The manufacturers have different models aimed towards different markets. Camry, Civic, Accord, et al are geared mostly towards the American market (doesn't mean they're not sold elsewhere, that's just the primary market they're aimed at). And thus their respective manufacturers like to have them designed, tested, and built all here. The Japanese three have major design/research centers in America, and for all those 3 models mentioned above (as well as many others), they go from design to test to assembly line to dealership all in America.
http://world.honda.com/news/2006/c060327Acura...

Ron wrote:

a small amount goes to american workers and a few new building

The "small amount" is approaching $30 Billion (that's billion with a B) for Toyota alone. The combined American investment by the Japanese Three is greater than the total GDP of many nations.

Morgan Dave wrote:

How much of Exxon’s profit stays in Saudi Arabia

Exxon is a public company. Here's where their profits are going: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc...

John wrote:

<quoted text>
Exxon is a public company. Here's where their profits are going: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc...

Oh, I’m sorry, I thought Toyota was a public company also. My mistake.Oh, I’m sorry, I thought Toyota was a public company also. My mistake.

Mogan Dave wrote:

<quoted text>
Oh, I’m sorry, I thought Toyota was a public company also. My mistake.Oh, I’m sorry, I thought Toyota was a public company also. My mistake.

It is. That's my point. In a public company, "ownership" (and the people who in the end make the buck), are shareholders. Granted, there's executives with large amounts of stock options that are American for Exxon, and Japanese for TM. But even so the majority of shares are held/traded out on the open market.

John wrote:

<quoted text>
It is. That's my point. In a public company, "ownership" (and the people who in the end make the buck), are shareholders. Granted, there's executives with large amounts of stock options that are American for Exxon, and Japanese for TM. But even so the majority of shares are held/traded out on the open market.

Again, how much of Exxon’s profit stays in Saudi Arabia?

Only a portion or profits are paid out to stockholders, and more often than not only a few individuals hold controlling interest in public companies. Those individuals select board members and are able to decide what is to be done with profits. Don’t get me wrong, I am a capitalist and I don’t think anything is wrong with it. If I own sixty percent of a public company, I pick the CFO, the CEO, and the board members. I also decide what they are paid, how the company is operated and what the company does with the profits.

Japanese companies with manufacturing operations in the US do have design and marketing operations in the US but the real engineering and capital equipment comes from Japan. If you believe otherwise you are misinformed.

Engine Fire Probe Spurs Alert from Nissan



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WASHINGTON (AP)-- Nissan North America Inc. on Friday told dealers to stop selling 2006 four-cylinder Nissan Altimas and Sentra SE-Rs following reports of engine fires.

The automaker said there has been one minor injury and it was investigating the cause. Nissan said about 100,000 of the vehicles
built between January 2006 and last month may be subject to the problem.

Nissan said it has received 215 reports of the vehicles' engines burning through their oil quickly, mostly from rental car fleets,
and 17 engine fires.

"If not detected or addressed properly, the condition may lead to engine damage which could, in extreme cases, result in a risk of fire," Nissan said in a statement.

Nissan said it had told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about its action and was contacting owners on ways of monitoring their sedan's oil consumption.

The automaker said it would extend the warranty covering the engine portion of the powertrain coverage to 84 months or 100,000 miles.

Created: 6/2/2006 4:36:27 PM
Updated: 6/2/2006 4:39:09 PM