For a while, TTAC has been tracking a strange story: Instead of exporting cars, Japanese carmakers (or should we call them factorymakers?) increasingly resort to exporting car factories. The higher and higher yen makes exports prohibitively expensive. On the other hand, a higher and higher yen buys more and more production capacity abroad. From Nissan to Mitsubishi, there is a chorus that sings the song that suddenly, people in low wage countries can make high quality cars.  Now nobody would assume that Japanese carmakers plan a wholesale desertion of the land of Nippon, right?  Wrong.

Today, we find an odd statement in The Nikkei [sub]: Toyota denies that they will leave Japan. At least not now … Read More >

Most divorces are a bit messy, and the Ford/Mazda separation is no exception. Sometimes, it tales a while for reality to sink in.  Here are the latest dispatches from divorce court. Read More >

Toyota has been taken to task quite a few times over the past few months. But now it’s time for Ralph Nader to take his pot shot at them. Why so late?

Ralph Nader is no stranger to calling car companies out on their safety. He took GM to task over the safety of the Corvair. Claims which the NHTSA and Texas A&M University studied and dismissed, but were backed up by John DeLorean. But now Mr Nader has Toyota in his crosshairs. Read More >

Yesterday, we reported that Ford and Mazda will be parting ways completely, after having lived married, but separated for a while. Ford will retain a token “3 percent or less” interest, why is anybody’s guess. Question for Mazda: What now? In January, we said: “What Mazda needs are strong partners in strong markets.” Back when, the Nikkei [sub] thought Mazda could get closer with Toyota, based on the fact that Mazda decided to procure a hybrid system from Toyota. That alone doesn’t make for a marriage. You won’t marry Safeway, just because you shop there. Toyota wants to become the systems house for hybrids, just like BMW will sell its engines to anyone with money. Read More >

That doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. The Mazda 5 is six inches longer than the Prius: check. The 5 also stands six inches taller than the Prius; does this? Toyota has said that interior room is 50% larger, so that looks about right. No word on third row seating; I’m guessing at least kiddie seats back there.

Power train? Almost undoubtedly, the bigger 2.4 L HSD version as used in the Camry hybrid and Lexus 250h. Mileage? If the first number isn’t a 4, don’t bother. I know one thing: this will sell in places like Oregon, either replacing Subaru wagons, and/or giving Prius families’ kids some growing room.

Since the recession, I’ve been paying attention to my finances. I’ve re-negotiated my mobile phone plan, changed gas and electricity suppliers and cut my pay-tv package down. I then started to look at driving costs. I re-negotiated my car insurance, but the real saving was in fuel costs. How do I cut the use of an expensive commodity? I did contemplate changing my little 6 year old Toyota Yaris for a hybrid. Whilst I was doing the math, a story was emailed to me. Read More >

End of 2008, Ford was in dire need of cash and decided to sell off a 20 percent chunk of their  33.4 percent holdings in  Mazda. Both promised that their cozy relationship would not suffer over something mundane like money. Of course, it wasn’t so. Their relationship disintegrated in record time. And now, they will make it official. Ford Motor Co. has decided to reduce its stake in Mazda by selling a large portion of its remaining shareholdings to Sumitomo group firms and other companies with which Mazda enjoys close business ties, The Nikkei [sub] just learned. Read More >

A couple of days ago I wrote about how Peugeot is looking to South East Asia for the next area of big growth. I also mentioned in the article how Peugeot will have a tough time trying to crack that market. Toyota, Honda and Nissan already have a pretty tight grip on that area. Well, it appears that Toyota has put forward their first defensive stroke. Read More >

When the whole “acceler-gate” scandal broke out, there were, pretty much, two reactions.

1. OH MY GOD!!!!!! STOP DRIVING YOUR TOYOTAS!!!!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!

And 2. Witch-hunt. Witch-hunt. Witch-hunt!

Well, irrespective of who was right, an investigation of the whole affair needed to happen. The US government did an investigation of their own and didn’t like the results. But Toyota also did an investigation of its own. They found something. Read More >

A report in Japan’s Kyodo news agency [via Reuters/Automotive News [sub]] must have raised a few eyebrows in Japan: thanks to a rising Yen, Toyota is reportedly eying an end to Corolla exports from Japan by 2013. Toyota has since emphasized that

it has made no decision to halt production in Japan of its Corolla automobiles for overseas sales but said it was always considering an optimum global production structure.

The yen hit 81 to the dollar today, both on Yen strength and dollar weakness. ( A Euro buys 1.41 dollars again – get ready for Eurotrash invading Manhattan.)

Toyota has already shifted the bulk of its Corolla production overseas: last year it built 815k Corollas outside of Japan, and only 235k in its home country (60 percent of which were exported). Still, Toyota has long considered stability in its Japanese workforce as core institutional value, and previous currency rises led to changes in design and quality philosophy rather than reductions in Japanese production levels. But then Toyota is no longer in a position to release currency pressure by targeting “fat” or “overquality” product the way it could in the early 90s. The “overquality” simply isn’t there anymore. Like everyone else, Toyota’s major competitive option is to move production closer to cheap labor and large markets.

Remember Toyota’s alleged sudden acceleration? And the hysteria surrounding it? Dubious databases were searched for dead bodies. The Secretary of Transportation himself recommended to stop driving your Toyota, and to drive it to the dealer instead – very carefully. Luckless swing club entrepreneurs took to driving a Prius instead, brakes smoking. Lawyers around the nation had wet dreams involving a Gulfstream V (or a 80 foot Sunseeker as a fall-back position.) As nothing of substance was found, the NHTSA asked the august body of the National Academy of Sciences to find the ghost in the machine.

Don’t even bother to look, it’s a worthless search. That’s what Paul Fischbeck, a professor of social and decision sciences and engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, told the National Academy of Sciences. Read More >

When Renault, Nissan and Daimler all tied up together many people thought this was just a symbolic gesture. The venture may help each other out in designs and joint ventures, but personally, I didn’t see anything of real substance happening from it. Well, it seems that Nissan and Daimler are taking this cross holding seriously. Very seriously. Read More >

We all thought it was trick. We all thought Aston Martin was playing an (admittedly) funny practical joke. But no, it was confirmed. The Aston Martin Cygnet (A.K.A The Toyota IQ with a posh badge) has been confirmed for production. Read More >

The front end is new, but contrary to some assumptions, the next generation Civic is clearly not an all-new car. CAR Middle East Online caught one in desert testing, and has a full portfolio of shots awaiting your perusal and judgment. So click the link, and come back and tell us what you think. I though so.

CAR Middle East Online

Producers of rolled steel and car manufacturers alike are casting a wary eye towards Japan. There, Toray Industries has developed technology, that, for the first time, allows carbon fiber to be used for mass produced auto bodies. According to The Nikkei [sub], Toray will start supplying Toyota and Fuji Heavy with carbon fiber for car bodies later this year. Read More >