Unlike Startrescue.co.uk’s breakdown cover customers, huge multi nationals such as Toyota are not able to take out any kind of insurance policy against the kind of losses it saw over 2011. Not only did the company’s Japanese manufacturing base break down in the face of the March tsunami, it had to deal with extensive floods in Thailand, badly affecting its outfit there. Now, the firm is facing a strong yen – but this time they know exactly what to do: move production to the USA.
As well as hurting the firm’s profit margin, the strong yen – which has risen 10% in the last nine months against the US dollar – has meant that buying a Toyota outside Japan has become a rather expensive affair. Toyota already export US made cars to 19 countries around the globe.
Yoshimi Inaba, chief operating officer for Toyota's North American operations said of plans to increase output from US factories: "This is just the beginning of a new era of North America being a source of supply to many other parts of the world,"
As well as the natural disasters of 2011, Toyota is also facing stiff competition from newer car firms such as Hyundai, as well as established carmakers in Europe and the US. The firm has revealed it has 19 new models that will roll off the production line over the coming years, a move designed to help ensure it remains the world’s largest car maker.
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