Toyota exec sees future where all cars sold in North America are built here

A growing number of foreign automakers have been shifting more vehicle production to North America – including recent announcement by Nissan and Honda – but Toyota could be on the verge of taking an unprecedented step by producing all of the cars it sells in North America right here in North America. According to the Detroit Free Press, Bill Fay, VP and GM of Toyota US, hinted at such a possibility, but the wording in the report makes it sound like this is far from a done deal and would not apply to Scion or Lexus models.

Currently, the automaker already builds 70 per cent of the cars sold here in North America, including some of its more popular models like the Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Tacoma and RAV4. While most of the Japanese-made Toyotas that are sold in North America are slower-selling models (like Land Cruiser, FJ Cruiser and Yaris), the Prius lineup is the glaring exception, and last we heard, Toyota still has plans to ship Prius production to the US by 2015. This is all a part of Toyota's plan to add 3,500 jobs in North America to go with recent investments totaling US$1.6 billion.