Japanese automakers increase American investments

Japanese automakers increase American investments
Publish date: Oct 16, 2009
Source: Motor Age


Japanese automakers increased investment in the U.S. by more than $1 billion
in 2008 to a total of $33.67 billion, according to a new report,
"Contributing to the Future of the American Automobile Industry," published
by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
"Our members are continuing to invest, research and build in order to
provide the high quality, environmentally friendly vehicles their consumers
demand," says William C. Duncan, JAMA USA general director. "We continue to
focus our production in North America, where we still make nearly two-thirds
of the cars and trucks we sell in the U.S."

The total investment in the U.S. of nearly $34 billion includes 31 vehicle,
engine and parts manufacturing plants and 34 major R&D and design
facilities. This financial commitment is a significant contribution to local
economies, according to the report.

The number of American employees devoted to research increased by 6 percent
between 2007 and 2008, a number now approaching 4,000 people. Nevertheless,
the recession has taken a toll on employment. The total number of employees,
including those at manufacturing plants, dealerships and research
facilities, fell from 424,883 at the end of 2007 to 392,635 at the end of
2008.

Japanese automakers produced 62 percent of their total U.S. sales from their
North American plants. In 2008, 2.97 million vehicles were produced in the
U.S.

The annual JAMA report also provides information about JAMA members'
environmental contributions in the U.S., including photographs of
next-generation vehicles: fuel cell vehicles; hydrogen vehicles; electric
vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

To obtain a copy of the report, go to www.jama.org.

 

How many plants does GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagon
operate in Japan? How many Japanese are employed by those operations?

 

That's really part of the problem. The Japanese automakers set up
plants and design studios here, and started making cars Americans
want. The US auto makers just tried exporting American cars to Japan,
and that didn't work.

 

And didn't they insult the Japanese consumer by offering left-hand
drive cars in a right-hand drive country?

 

And then moan about anti-US trade restrictions?

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"

 

http://community.webtv.net/GravityPhysics/WhaleSteamEngineA