Word: toyotas
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With more factories around the world, Toyota has had to abandon its distinctive one-on-one training methods, prompting questions about whether the company can maintain its vaunted production standards. In the old days, Japanese manufacturing gurus schooled in the legendary Toyota production system would move overseas and practically live in a new plant for a few years. Classroom training is now the rule. And for the first time, Toyota's U.S. plants--not factories in Japan--are acting as the "mother ships" for new factories. A Georgetown, Ky., plant shepherded a new truck plant in Mexico...
...same time, Toyota is losing ground in the vehicle-reliability race. Hyundai last year nudged past Toyota (excluding Lexus) in J.D. Power & Associates' initial-quality survey. GM has narrowed the gap with models like the Buick Century. Even the indomitable Camry has slipped, dropping from first place in 2000 to eighth in 2004, as consumers report fewer problems with competing models. (Camry complaints aren't appreciably higher...
Indeed, for all Toyota's strengths, the company needs a truck hit in the U.S. to offset weaker prospects in other areas. While Toyota is expanding rapidly in Europe and China, those sales tend to be concentrated in the compact-car segment, in which profit margins are low. In Japan, where Toyota intends to launch its Lexus brand in August, the company may have a hard time expanding market share, already at 44%. The dollar's slump against the yen, meanwhile, makes Japanese exports more expensive...
Piece it together, and you'll get an idea of why Toyota is moving to Texas. The state anted up $133 million to lure the new state-of-the-art plant, which when it lights up late next year will feature a highly flexible system for producing eight different models on a single line. Toyota aims to produce 150,000 Tundras annually there, and analysts expect a second line eventually for other models. Says Rob Hinchliffe of UBS: "They're very methodical...
Because Texans buy more pickups per capita than anyone else, Toyota is banking on a core group of buyers in its backyard. The company has started the courting, launching a limited-edition Tundra co-branded with cowboy-boot maker Lucchese and slapping the Toyota name on the Houston Rockets basketball arena. Traditionally, Toyota has done best in cities and on the coasts, selling Corollas and Camrys to baby boomers and Lexuses to well-off urbanites. On the West Coast, Toyota's share is 16%, double its share in the Midwest and the South. Yet Toyota can no longer count...