What does that design of the vehicle have to do where TMC builds it?

Toyota has several design studios around the world... during design phase, they compete to win the design. It has nothing to do with where the cars are built.

 

 

i love how just about literally every single original part i've seen on my LS during the various little projects i've done is sourced from japan. except for the headlight bulbs, which are from germany. i don't think i've seen a made in china anywhere on the entire car. the oil filter used to be the 90915-20004 filter made in japan, but now toyota replaced it with the slightly smaller 90915-YZZD3 filter made in thailand, which is generally considered to be inferior.

 

That is not completeness or incompleteness of design. It is about adapting an international design for local market conditions. The Corolla model, for example, is an international design that is adapted and built for (and built in) different markets around the world; the North American Corolla may be built in Japan right now (as Toyota is pulling out the Corolla from its Cambridge plant and adjusting the factory to build the RAV4) but the model we get will be slightly different from models built in the same factory but destined for sale in Japan.

There are a number of factors that explain the features that you don't like about Toyotas, key among them being cost-limitation and cost-containment. Americans are very price-sensitive -- and much more so than buyers in the rest of the world -- when it comes to shopping for their personal-use vehicles. To keep retail prices down, there may have to be some less-expensive features substituted.

C-channel frames are cheaper to build than fully-boxed frames and if the more-expensive fully-boxed frame is not necessary for this market, it is cost-conscious to provide only what is wanted here.

The same applies to the torsion beam rear suspension on the last-generation Corolla (the model that you own); it is cheaper to build than a fully-independent rear suspension. Because the Corolla is a smaller, price-sensitive model, certain feature limitations had to be applied (like the torsion beam suspension and the rear drum brakes).

The new-generation Corolla is built on the TNGA-C platform which was designed, from the start, to be less expensive to build than the older platforms, so where features had to be made less expensive on the old model to limit costs, the new, cheaper design allows those more-expensive features, even in Corollas destined for price-sensitive regions, like North America.

 

 

 

Not necessarily. Part of that question also involves the drivetrain. If you don't have to fit in RWD and a rear differential/driveshaft and the extra U-joints, there isn't much, if any difference in cost between doing a beam axle and IRS. American-market Corollas, of course, are FWD, and don't have any rear drivetrain parts.

 

 

When did Mr. Trump annex Canada into the USA? Was that an added chapter in the USMCA?

(The RX is built in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. The ES, however, is built in Georgetown, Kentucky.)

 

why is it nice or why does it matter, at all? i never cared less that the 2 lexus i had were made in japan, or the last 2 vehicles in the u.s., nor could i care less that my current car was made in s. korea.

 

 

well idk if it's as true today, but there was a time when made in japan meant (in theory) high quality workmanship and dedicated passionate workers. i think of chief engineer ichiro suzuki proudly standing next to toyota's fantastic achievement:



now come on, would he look as happy if the car was largely outsourced? lol but idk i've also always just loved japan and it's culture. the whole discipline, politeness, specialized techniques passed down and developed through generations thing they got going on. if you watch the process of making a fine katana this all becomes very apparent.

and also, when do you ever hear someone brag about something made in korea?

 

Everyone here is getting hung up on 'oh no, it's not made where the company originates'. Lexus and Toyota have extremely high quality standards when it comes to building vehicles. Lexus manufacturing outside Japan is positively scrutinized, look at Canada for example. The Cambridge plant in Ontario, Canada is one of the most award plants in the world. If Lexus were to beginning manufacturing cars in China, you can bet the Chinese factories would be just as scrutinized if not more by Lexus to ensure quality.

 

I don't think anyone is getting hung up. I am sure the Lexus models that are coming out of Cambridge are just as good as Japan. I personally just think it is important to pay attention to heritage when one can or has the option, especially when the price is inflated such as a luxury item. Recently I was at Holt Renfrew, A LOT of the high end brands such as Prada for example still make products in Italy or places of such origin. Contrast that to a brand like Levi's that used to make a lot of stuff in the USA, where it is now originating from many places China included, yet there is a premium price to it compared to brands such as GAP denim and such. Hung up is not the word IMO.