Toyota - Building Here to Ship Abroad

Ran across an interesting globalization story today on forbes.com, "Toyota Wants to Export SUVs, From America," by Shu-Ching Jean Chen. It seems Toyota is gearing up to export its American-made Sequoia SUV to the Middle East sometime this year. Further, it's thinking about selling U.S.-made Sienna minivans in China. Turns out the low value of the dollar, plus shrinking demand in the U.S. for larger vehicles (high gas prices!), is spurring the company to make things in the U.S. to ship abroad -- what some may have thought was the unimaginable 20 years ago. Actually, having the U.S. as a manufacturing platform for worldwide consumption is not a new idea. As of now, U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies already account for almost 20 percent of total U.S. exports (almost $170 billion worth of goods).