WCA September 2009

Executive vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada recently acknowledged to reporters that investing in hybrid car manufacture, with its higher overhead costs, was riskier than other types of factory investment.

“We are not forsaking the people who want to make an environmental statement,” said Paul Nolasco, the Toyota spokesman who helped lead a press tour of the Toyota compound. “But the objective of the Prius is to get the family to the mall, not to see how far you can go on so many drops of gas.” (“A Hit in Japan, Updated Hybrid Goes Mainstream,” 9 th June) Mr Harden noted that even the new, larger Prius faces tough challenges in the US this year. Gasoline prices at the start of the summer were running about $1.50 a gallon lower than in 2008, lessening the appeal of higher-priced hybrids. And the popularity of the Prius with Americans has been slipping. In the first five months of the year, US sales of the Prius had skidded to 42,753, down more than 45% from sales in the same period of 2008. Sales in the US fell to 10,091 in May, down 30.1% from May 2008. Popular acceptance of the Prius in the US would ❖ ❖ likely confront Toyota with a problem of another kind: supplying the dealers whose waiting lists have been lengthening for more than a year. Company plans for a new hybrid car factory in Blue Springs, Mississippi, originally scheduled to open in 2010, were suspended in December. With its Japanese production lines already busy, Toyota must be feeling pressure to make a decision soon about the plant’s future.

In expectation of a rebound in the US economy, Ford Motor ramps up its production plans

“With growing consumer confidence, a reduced rate of jobless claims, and a cash-for-clunkers program expected to lift sales by more than 250,000 vehicles this year, Ford’s decision is a positive sign.” So wrote business writer Brent Snavely, of the Detroit Free Press , of the 29 th June announcement by Ford Motor Co that it would increase production by 15,000 cars and 10,000 trucks in the July-September period. This marked the second time that Ford upped its third-quarter production plans. The company had not raised quarterly production since late 2007. Ford – the only domestic auto maker to not file for bankruptcy – planned to produce 485,000 vehicles in the third quarter, or 16% more than it produced during that period of last year.

36

Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2009