Surprising Japanese Exports: American Jobs

by Bertel Schmitt

May 29th, 2013 7:23 AM

surprising japanese exports american jobs

The fact that GM creates 6,000 jobs in China and will invest $11 billion in China until 2016 (and $16 billion in America) gets all the headlines. What falls under the table is the fact that someone else invests $76 billion each year straight into more than a million Americans. It’s the Japanese auto industry.

Jobs From Japanese TransplantsManufacturing57,939R&D4,196Distributors18,899Spin-off production325,000Dealerships327,477Spin-off dealer339,000TOTAL1,072,511Annual compensation$76,000,000,000Source: JAMA

Japanese-branded automobile plants account for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. automobile production. What’s more, Japanese automakers are a major driver of exports – from America to the world. Honda estimates it will become a “net exporter” of automobiles from North America by 2014. Toyota expects to export more vehicles from North American plants than the Detroit 3 automakers, and foresees a future where all Toyota cars sold in U.S .may eventually be built here.

#BertelSchmitt #Japan #Jobs

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20 of 41 comments

Da Coyote on May 28, 2013

That picture of one of "N" reasons (where N is a very large number) that I will NEVER own a car built by the GM Toads. I made that mistake far too many times and was rewarded the the only cars on the road with less reliability than my "highly regarded" German roadside blockers. It's Japanese only, baby.

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- Sigivald on May 28, 2013
  
  Now, now. Ford makes a perfectly good set of cars, too... even with Union labor!
  
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- TomHend on May 28, 2013
  
  @Sigivald True on both your points. I just can't buy Japanese, and GM is making much better cars too.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on May 28, 2013
  
  How many of those Japanese cars are "Japanese" at this point?
  
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- Ihatetrees on May 28, 2013
  
  While I'm somewhat sympathetic to your view (and am no fan of US organized labor), buying domestic makes sense if a) you get a better vehicle value (some gently used domestic models fall into that category) b) use the money you save to help ensure that our government sticks to principle and lets GM and/or Chrysler fail next time their hands are out.
  
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- Billfrombuckhead on May 29, 2013
  
  @ihatetrees Like the Japanese just didn't bail out their flatscreen Tv industry and restructure it. Like Korea didn't bailout and restructure Hyundai and Kia. Only dumbass Americans believe in so called free markets without government interventions.
  
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- Bd2 on May 29, 2013
  
  @billfrombuckhead Bail out Kia, not Hyundai (tho Kia's bailout was also with private $$ from Hyundai). Also, the Japanese govt. pretty much subsidized investment of hybrids.
  
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Carlson Fan on May 28, 2013

Our union made GMC Sierra(Flint, MI) and Chevrolet Tahoe(Janesville, WI) have blown both the Toyotas we have owned out of the water when it comes to reliability and initial quality. Anecdotal yes, but when it comes to fullsize PU trucks and SUVs I like GM stuff better than anything offered by the imports. The fact that they are more reliable and/or engineered better is just icing on the cake.

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- Dr. Kenneth Noisewater on May 28, 2013
  
  Which compact American pickup currently on sale would you recommend?
  
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- Billfrombuckhead on May 28, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater Why buy an obsolete compact when American fullsize trucks get better gas mileage, ride much better and can actually haul stuff? The new Pentastar Ram gets better gas mileage than any V6 Japanese truck, compact or fullsize.
  
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- Peter E. Puffington IV on May 28, 2013
  
  @billfrombuckhead So that tech doesn't scale down? Ever run a fullsize (especially a modern one...some years ago they weren't so huge) on a trail?
  
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- Dr. Kenneth Noisewater on May 28, 2013
  
  @billfrombuckhead So where's the compact American pickup truck with a ~200hp 4cyl that gets 30+mpg highway, weighs less than two tons, and which can tow a trailer with a motorcycle on it and/or carry a bed full of sod or Costco items?
  
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- Mik101 on May 29, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater And that sir is exactly what I want in a pickup. Sadly they probably couldn't make it cheap enough, and there likely wouldn't just be enough takers like us if it was priced similarly to the fullsize. We lose.
  
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- Niky on May 29, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater Ford Ranger. 197 hp, 3.2 liter five cylinder diesel, cargo capacity of 1.2 metric tons (1.3 for the two-wheel drive) and a 3.5 ton towing capacity. Oh, wait... that's right. You don't get it there.
  
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- Billfrombuckhead on May 29, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater Where's the modern Japanese truck that will do that? A Dodge Caravan will kick a Tacoma's ass 95% of the time.
  
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- DenverMike on May 30, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater Niky - Trucks in OZ are a little overrated, capacity wise. Like almost 100% overrated vs. US or SAE payload (GVWR) and towing (GCWR) standards. The Nissan Frontier gets almost 100% more 'capacity' in OZ with nothing more that 'upgraded' Navara emblems. And 30 MPG simply isn't going to happen even with the diesel. At least, not if equipped to work hard.
  
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- Niky on May 30, 2013
  
  @Dr. Kenneth Noisewater You're obviously not going to get 30 MPG while towing, but I drive 3.0 and 3.2 diesels in the course of my job, and 30 mpg is entirely possible at highway speeds (meaning 65 mph), and 35 mpg is possible at OUR highway speeds (45-50 mph). If a truck is rated at that capacity, it can do it. The discrepancy is that US ratings are often lower, as it's unacceptable in America for cars to slow down below 80 mph when towing three tons up a 30% grade. Okay, that's a lie, but yes, the truck can carry over one ton in the bed and tow over three tons. "Over-rated" would imply that you can't do that at all... as pick-up owners here in the Asia-Pacific region actually DO use the full rated capacities of their trucks from time to time, since "compact" trucks are honest-to-goodness working trucks out here. Whether it would be rated the same in the US is entirely up to Ford's marketing team and whether they want the Ranger to steal market share away from their best-selling F150.
  
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- DenverMike on May 30, 2013
  
  @Niky - No doubt, I can get 30 hwy MPG in some V8 1/2 tons, under the right conditions. But aren't we talking EPA MPG? And there's no doubt any US spec mid-size or 1/2 ton can exceed its capacity rating by 100% with no problem, in the short run. Never mind safety, but we're talking about a part of the world that lacks an entire class of full-size pickups. If their mid-size were capped by our SAE ratings, they would be forced into to MDTs or van cutoffs that much sooner. Of course they're not as litigious as we are. OEMs here tend to error on the side of caution. Ask Toyota where most of their lawsuits come from. It's not just up to marketing teams. The global Ranger would need to be 'built' to outclass the F-150. There's nothing that really implies that it is.
  
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Jim brewer on May 28, 2013

U.S. exports are at an all-time high. Higher even than before the bust. Its one of the few bright spots in the economy, and one of the reasons we are doing better than the Euros. exports/imports are not a ledger book add and subtract analysis.

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Peter E. Puffington IV on May 28, 2013

Wait...so were I to roll up in the Husky Mine Detection Vehicle that I operated in Baghdad and several of my friends are currently rocking in Kandahar I couldn't park it here since it is assembled in South Africa and sported a Benz power plant? How Patriotic.

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