Japan Opens Up To Imports; Just Not From The Big Three
All the complaints about Japan being a “closed market” are hogwash; look at all the imports coming in to Japan from places like Thailand, Malaysia and China.
No, Japan isn’t quite ready for a Malaysian or Chinese car, but Thai-made cars, like the Nissan March, are leading a trend against Japan’s mentality of buying domestic made goods. According to a report by Bloomberg, nearly 40 percent of goods made by Japanese companies will be made offshore, a record number.
The unfavorable exchange rate between the Yen and U.S. Dollar is being blamed for the new trend, and it’s unlikely to change any time soon. On the other hand, Japanese consumers tend to subscribe to the “buy local” mantra, and the rise of the Honda Fit has been attributed by some to the Thai-built March’s decline in popularity due to its origins.
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I think most American savvy consumers dont' want to buy GM. So why criticize the Japanese for being astute consumers. According to CR and other well respected publications, GM is not building cars that are competitive. Ford is doing better but the Japanese are not known to waste money on 'just so products'. Nuff said.
@oboylepr & Rday Where do you see me pushing GM in my writing? Your own bias blinds you both to facts and reason. No where to you seem me pimping GM. No where! And what has GM got to do with fact that no other foreign auto maker builds in Japan? Are you going to tell me VW, Audi ,MB, BMW, Fiat, Kia/Hyundai, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot and others all make poor cars as well? Well what a discovery! I guess the rest of the auto buying world are dumboes , unlike those buyers in Japan. What is that attribute the Japanese auto buyer has unlike the rest of car buyers in the world? What makes the Japanese auto buyer so different? I want to know? Or as much as you don’t want to admit it, there is protectionism, and that is the real reason no foreign auto builder is there and why foreign imports are so little in sales.
Japan is a closed society. Anyone who dealt with Japanese knows it. They do not like foreigners, they do not trust them, they do not accept someone else's design. I cannot imagine Japanese outsourcing SW development or chip design to India, China or Israel. They will not accept anything unless they can reproduce it themselves and under their own standards and processes. Of course German designs are so good that they hopelessly try to reproduce the magic and cannot for many decades. But American cars? Toyota makes better American cars than American companies. It is not like I want American companies to emulate Toyota but fact is fact - Japanese outdid Americans at their own home market. So if Japanese even wanted American cars - Honda, Toyota and Nissan already make them better.
Interesting to note that BMW is building its 1st BWM Group Driving Center in Asia in South Korea and not Japan even tho the SKorean auto market is a good bit smaller.