According to the Detroit News, Toyota is looking into the possibility of building their hybrid Prius in California at a joint-venture production facility in California called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI).
NUMMI is a venture established by GM and Toyota in 1984, which currently produces the Toyota Corolla, Tacoma, Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.
If production of the Prius were to proceed at NUMMI, it would be the first time that Toyota’s iconic hybrid had been produced in North America. Currently production of the Prius is limited to plants in Japan and China.
Toyota’s plans would include shipping the majority of the Prius’ major components to the joint-venture facility in California. Local North American production of the Prius would assist Toyota in keeping up with the increasing demand for their fuel-sipping hybrid, a demand currently fuelled by the skyrocketing price of fuel.
Since its release in 1997, worldwide sales of the Toyota Prius have passed the one million mark (earlier this month) and Toyota have made it clear that their future plans include selling one million hybrids per annum.
At the time of this article, Toyota claim that a decision has not been reached regarding Prius production in North America.
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In Grand Theft Auto IV there is almost a direct copy of the Prius called the “Dilettante”… art imitating life hey?
I guess this means they’d be building the new Prius there as well. Makes sense to shift production where the market is to minimise cost - just like BMW did for the X5 and Z3/Z4
Seems fitting somehow, not sure why ;-O