It seems that noone had touched this elephant yet. Any chance Gen4 will be built in US? I know for some it has been a deal breaker in the past. They could buy Kentucky built HyCam but not Prius, b/c it was 100% built in Japan.
wouldn't they have to build a plant first? that's a lot to get done between now and january deliveries.
thats like saying nobody said it wont be built on Mars.... new factory coming online is announced 3 years before it happens. So no.
Any chance? Sure The Blue Springs plant was originally planned to assemble Prius, but was repurposed. A huge earthquake/tidal wave could refocus Toyota's efforts again. But it is wildly unlikely.
I seriously doubt it. The HyCam was convenient because they were already building Camries so dropping in new assembly options wasn't that big a deal. Perhaps in the future when production ramps up and maybe a US factory could serve as a distribution hub for all North America. Then again, would they build in the US or just use NAFTA to build in Mexico and ship to the US and Canada, just like the Fusion Hybrid?
I had a made-in-Canada Civic once. In the engine bay there was a seam running along the sheet metal joint with the fender. On one side of the car there was a bead of sealant place correctly along the seam. On the other side there was a bead of sealant running along the sheet metal, about 1/2" away from the seam. Between the workmanship and quality control, I was underwhelmed.
My purely speculative opinion, is it's not very likely today, but probably nearly unavoidable in the future. I'm not going to say for sure in the US, but I would say "North America". It has become a competitive reality. It's usually cheaper to build/assemble your vehicles closer to their respective markets. Not to mention that often in places like Mexico labor costs can be reduced. Honda is pretty proud of the fact that nearly all their North American Honda's are now assembled in various plants in North America. I'm thinking with the passage of time, it's going to be more and more difficult or rare to get a "Japanese Built" product that has been imported for sale in the US. I could be wrong, and I wouldn't try to necessarily pin down the timeline, but it seems to me that is the direction that major automakers are heading in.
VW used/uses cheap Mexican labor. Perhaps they will make the Prius here some day, but the quality control will never match.
They did start building a U.S. plant for Gen3s, but that was halted by the financial crisis / housing bust / great recession, then later repurposed. My 1986 Honda Accord was built in Marysville Ohio. My 1997 Subaru was built in Indiana. Both were great cars, I'd buy them again. If they can do Made In America right, why not Toyota?
Right now the $US Dollar is King so I think that gives us a great import price from Japan. If car manufacture was energy intensive then we have cheaper energy right now, but our exports from USA are expensive to others.
Cars made here verses made there...no contest...Japan wins! Where was your "Other Hybrid" and Other Non-Hybrid" made?