Ok, I haven't seen this on here yet, so if it's a re-post I apologize. Anyway, this is not any surprise to me and shows how "dedicated" Toyota is to the United States economy.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/20/news/compa...sion=2007062006

This is not really news. It was inevitable. There is nothing miraculous about what Japan Inc. has done for the past 25 years. It was impossible for GM to hold onto 50% market share. The market will settle out with GM in the 20-22% range, Toyota around 15%, Ford and Honda slightly below that, then the rest of the pack around 10%. That will reflect more of the picture that exists in the rest of the world.

Toyota is merely recognizing this and is putting the brakes on expansion to avoid the spectre of over capacity. That, and they are also realizing it is a lot more challenging to play with the big boys than they thought.

This is not really news. It was inevitable. There is nothing miraculous about what Japan Inc. has done for the past 25 years. It was impossible for GM to hold onto 50% market share. The market will settle out with GM in the 20-22% range, Toyota around 15%, Ford and Honda slightly below that, then the rest of the pack around 10%. That will reflect more of the picture that exists in the rest of the world.

Toyota is merely recognizing this and is putting the brakes on expansion to avoid the spectre of over capacity. That, and they are also realizing it is a lot more challenging to play with the big boys than they thought.

Actually the reason TOYOTA is putting the brakes on US manufacturing expansion is because the undervalued yen makes it cheaper to export cars directly from JAPAN plus they don't have to deal with healthcare issues since Japan has government subsidized healthcare. I don't know what you mean by Toyota challenging the big boys since TOYOTA already is the largest automaker in the world and second largest in the US.

Actually the reason TOYOTA is putting the brakes on US manufacturing expansion is because the undervalued yen makes it cheaper to export cars directly from JAPAN plus they don't have to deal with healthcare issues since Japan has government subsidized healthcare. I don't know what you mean by Toyota challenging the big boys since TOYOTA already is the largest automaker in the world and second largest in the US.

And how long have they been largest automaker in the world, my friend? That is what I mean by "playing with the big boys." Ford and GM have been doing it for 75 years; longer than Toyota has even existed. Toyota was an also-ran company until maybe 20 years ago, which is remarkable for them; however, considering the energy and the resources applied to the North American market by Japan Inc., none of this is surprising.

I'm favoriting this, because it'll come in useful everytime I have some argument with some butt-knocker about how Toyota is all about North America.