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I've posted this elsewhere, apologize if you've read it before, but thought i'd spread the news
Toyota Considers Making Scion Autos in North America (Update1)
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., which is moving more of its production outside Japan, may start making its Scion line of U.S. cars somewhere in North America, the brand's manager said at an industry conference.
Scion, geared to drivers in their 20s and 30s, sold 99,259 cars last year, its first year as a national brand and just short of Toyota's initial 100,000-unit goal for 2005. The cars are sold only in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam, and there are no immediate plans to extend Scion to Canada or Mexico, spokeswoman Ming-Jou Chen said.
Toyota President Fujio Cho this month said the company plans to build at least 75 percent of cars and trucks sold in North America at local factories, up from 63 percent in 2004, to curb pressure from exchange-rate changes and cut delivery times.
``If we can find a way to build (Scion) cars in the U.S., we will do that,'' Jim Farley, a Toyota vice president and Scion brand manager, told reporters today at the Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, Michigan. Making Scions in North America is ``an issue we need to study,'' he said.
Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker after General Motors Corp., began selling Scion in California in mid-2003 to attract buyers younger than its customer base of baby-boomers in their 50s, to ensure future sales growth in the world's largest auto market.
The brand offers three models: the xA hatchback; xB wagon; and tC coupe; with base prices of between $13,000 and $17,000. Scion buyers can customize their cars with interior lighting enhancements, multiple wheel types and colored brake and gas pedals that can be ordered via the Internet.
Toyota's U.S. operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's America depositary receipts fell $1.12 to $79.60 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:18 p.m. They have risen 15 percent in the past 12 months.
Toyota Considers Making Scion Autos in North America (Update1)
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., which is moving more of its production outside Japan, may start making its Scion line of U.S. cars somewhere in North America, the brand's manager said at an industry conference.
Scion, geared to drivers in their 20s and 30s, sold 99,259 cars last year, its first year as a national brand and just short of Toyota's initial 100,000-unit goal for 2005. The cars are sold only in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam, and there are no immediate plans to extend Scion to Canada or Mexico, spokeswoman Ming-Jou Chen said.
Toyota President Fujio Cho this month said the company plans to build at least 75 percent of cars and trucks sold in North America at local factories, up from 63 percent in 2004, to curb pressure from exchange-rate changes and cut delivery times.
``If we can find a way to build (Scion) cars in the U.S., we will do that,'' Jim Farley, a Toyota vice president and Scion brand manager, told reporters today at the Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, Michigan. Making Scions in North America is ``an issue we need to study,'' he said.
Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker after General Motors Corp., began selling Scion in California in mid-2003 to attract buyers younger than its customer base of baby-boomers in their 50s, to ensure future sales growth in the world's largest auto market.
The brand offers three models: the xA hatchback; xB wagon; and tC coupe; with base prices of between $13,000 and $17,000. Scion buyers can customize their cars with interior lighting enhancements, multiple wheel types and colored brake and gas pedals that can be ordered via the Internet.
Toyota's U.S. operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's America depositary receipts fell $1.12 to $79.60 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:18 p.m. They have risen 15 percent in the past 12 months.
