First Subaru Camry rolls off the line in Indiana
No, we're not confused - Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, and Toyota cooked up a deal in 2006 that creates more production capacity for the Camry by having Subaru of Indiana Automotive begin building the country's best selling car. The deal was one of the first fruits born from Toyota's decision to snatch up the 8.7% stake in Subaru that GM dropped back in 2005.The agreement nets Toyota the ability to produce 100,000 more of the vanilla sedans per year (Toyota sold an already impressive 448,445 Camrys in 2006) at Subaru's plant in Lafayette, Indiana. Subaru, meahwhile, snared a $230 million payment from Toyota to build even more of the best-seller, and 1,000 jobs have been added, as well, to nearly double the 120,000 Tribecas, Outbacks and Legacys the plant produced in 2006. The local community also netted a $60,000 donation to their zoo's owl exhibit in return for support of the deal.
So, Toyota gets more Camrys to sell, Subaru earns money, the citizens of Lafayette, Indiana have 1,000 more jobs, and the owls at the Columbian Park Zoo win an upgrade to their exhibit. Maybe they'll tell their other bird friends to aim for cars other than Camrys.
PR After the jump.
[Source: Toyota]
PRESS RELEASE:
Camry Production Begins In Indiana
Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) and Toyota held a ceremony today to commemorate production of the plant's first Toyota Camry.
In March 2006, SIA parent Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) and Toyota announced a collaborative agreement that would include Camry production at SIA.
A $230 million investment gives SIA the capacity to produce 100,000 Camrys per year. Camry production will add 1,000 associates for a total of more than 3,200 at SIA.
Attending the ceremony were FHI president Ikuo Mori and Toyota Motor Corporation president Katsuaki Watanabe. They congratulated SIA associates and Toyota team members involved in the project's development for their hard work and commitment to building America's best-selling car at SIA.
"Production of the Camry at SIA represents an important start to our business collaboration with Toyota," said Mori. "Together, we were able to accomplish this goal in a short period of time through the efforts of all associates involved in this project."
"Fuji and Toyota faced many challenges for Camry production, including a short amount of preparation time, and we are grateful for the hard work of our associates and team members," said Watanabe. "We look forward to growing a long-term relationship with Fuji, SIA and the local community."
"The Camrys are rolling and so is Indiana," said Governor Mitch Daniels. "We are honored by the new investment in our state and the confidence in Hoosier workers."
To thank the local community for its support, SIA and Toyota yesterday announced a $60,000 donation to the Columbian Park Zoo for its owl exhibit.
In addition to the Camry, SIA builds the Subaru Tribeca, Outback and Legacy. SIA produced about 120,000 Subarus in 2006.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and will operate 15 manufacturing plants in North America by 2010. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.8 million vehicles in 2006. Toyota directly employs over 41,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18.6 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $28.5 billion.
Toyota currently produces 11 vehicles in North America, including the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra and the Lexus RX 350. By 2010, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build approximately 2.2 million cars and trucks, 1.45 million engines and 600,000 automatic transmissions.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jason 5:44PM (4/20/2007)
I wouldn't call the Camry "vanilla." Maybe the last version, but not this. The front, with it's canted, agressive headlights, is not plain. It just doesn't offend anyone.
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J 5:41PM (4/20/2007)
but does more camrys mean less legacies? damn I hate toyota.
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chairman 6:13PM (4/20/2007)
Even if the Camry is vanilla, I doubt the plant workers are complaining. Work is work.
Ever since Isuzu bailed on its partnership with Subaru, the Indiana plant was grossly under-utilized. I can't imagine the Camry work would cut into the Legacy production.
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Tool 6:15PM (4/20/2007)
Remember . . . "vanilla" is the most popular ice cream flavor.
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JC3 1:12PM (4/21/2007)
In the Wall Street Journal today there's an article about how the Chinese company that builds Buicks for GM is eventually going to be in business for itself and be a rival to GM.That's probably related to this story ,in that ,one car manufacturer is letting another build their car.
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Bryan 6:19PM (4/20/2007)
Yay, more ugly turds to clog up our highways!
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Petey 6:19PM (4/20/2007)
Vanilla is relative.. even a Corvette is ho-hum if you're used to driving 500k Ferrari's.
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2006 Saab owner 6:54PM (4/20/2007)
Well, at least Subaru can replace its old partner Mitsubishi which bailed out of the Indiana factory a few years ago when they could no longer sell cars in the US. Subarus are good cars - my family owns three of them, some as old as six years with nearly 100,000 miles - they love them to death! Subaru is too small here to have its own factory - the alternative was probably going to be to shut it down if a partner could not be found.
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Paul Y 7:51PM (4/20/2007)
This deal doesn't affect Subaru production at all: the plant was built in a convoluted deal involving GM and Isuzu that didn't work out, and Isuzu ended up bailing out, leaving the plant severely under-utilized.
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Amit 9:06PM (4/20/2007)
"it doesn't offend anyone" sounds like a great definition for "vanilla"
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Jim Sanders 8:04PM (4/20/2007)
More jobs for Indianadians!
Take that Michigan, you with your negative ad campaigns trying to hog all automotive jobs in Michigan!
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SilverAero 8:46PM (4/20/2007)
Ha, Dan the title of this article made me think we were talking about the new Impreza and WRX. I guess i was wrong (it looks like the corrola not camry anyway,oh well, funny how the mind works)
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akns 8:54PM (4/20/2007)
Demand for this new Camry never seems to stop growing...
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akns 9:00PM (4/20/2007)
"So, Toyota gets more Camrys to sell, Subaru earns money, the citizens of Lafayette, Indiana have 1,000 more jobs, and the owls at the Columbian Park Zoo win an upgrade to their exhibit."
Looks like a win-win-win-win (quadruple win) situation. Add in lower costs for the customers (supply and demand) and it's hard to see how this is anything but good news.
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Bob-omb 9:10PM (4/20/2007)
Oh, it offends plenty. It offends all the whiney babies on this blog who have never owned a Camry, but love to bash them.
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Aprime 9:24PM (4/20/2007)
All Toyotas drive the same anyway, so why bother?
(I just fell in love with the Hyundai Elantra after test driving it yesterday)
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Brent.W 3:25PM (9/12/2007)
So just going by what you said a Supra drives the same as a tercel?
American 10:01AM (4/21/2007)
Buy American, buy a Ford! WAIT! NO! BUY A CAMRY!!
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HotRodzNKustoms 10:27PM (4/20/2007)
Though everyone seems to win here, if it was any of the domestic brands giving the city that kickback like that, people would cry foul, and they'd be under investigation for questionable buisness practice.
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Phil 10:34PM (4/20/2007)
Camry's and Subaru's are Great cars, Subaru's are very under rated.
I see this as a totally POSITIVE thing all around.
The Camry is one of the best cars built today, and a terrific buy for many people, the price of a Camry LE has hardly gone up over the last 13 years, They had a sticker price of 20k back in 94 and today they sticker for 21K, you can buy one for less than 20K at most dealers, most other cars have had much larger price increases.
I agree with #14, many people like to bash a car they have never owned or driven, Some people are so narrow minded.
Good Luck to Toyota, Subaru and the workers.
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