Toyota Japan to import cars from Thailand
Toyota Japan may start importing cars from Thailand as a way of combating the yen's rising rate against the dollar. As with many other Japanese car manufacturers, importing cars from places like Thailand, where production costs are much lower, saves companies a lot of money.
The strong yen has made it cheaper for Japanese companies to simply import products rather than produce them domestically themselves. Toyota is also still suffering from the effects of the earthquake disaster earlier this year and is looking for ways to get sales back on track. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Toyota is considering bringing in compact models from Thailand.
Sub-compact models in particular are Toyota's main focus at the moment, as these are becoming increasingly popular in the country. In places like Thailand and India, Toyota has various models that Toyota Japan could import.
Toyota is thinking along the lines of importing models such as the Toyota Etios - a small four- and five-door model with 1.2- and 1.5-litre engine options - which is produced by Toyota in India. Yukitoshi Funo, Toyota executive vice president and board member, recently spoke about the sort of car Toyota is considering importing, saying,
"It will be a car similar to the Etios in size as we are trying to be aggressive in vehicles of that size globally."
Toyota is not only looking to import cars but also import more parts and components from other countries. These components would then be used to assemble Toyota vehicles in Japan. This would also support Toyota's future plans of developing an earthquake-proof production process.
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