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Toyota: We Won't Close NUMMI

After yesterday GM announced it has decided to place its NUMMI operation in the "bad assets" basket, questions started surfacing about the fate of the plant and of its some 5,000 workers. Toyota's first reaction is to express their disappointment with GM's decision.

"While we respect this decision by GM, the economic and business environment surrounding Toyota is also extremely severe, and so this decision by GM makes the situation even more difficult for Toyota," the Japanese manufacturer said in a release via theautochannel.com

"We will consider alternatives by taking into account various factors, including the current distressed market conditions, our overall North American manufacturing capacity, and the viability of the facility as a stand-alone operation without GM production."

Officially, the manufacturer did not assume any plan to keep the plant going. Yet, according to the infamous inside sources, Toyota will not give up on NUMMI.

"We have relations with the regional community so there will be no closure," an unnamed executive was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.

Analyst also believe that Toyota will not pack their bags and leave. NUMMI is, in addition, the single Toyota-run operation in the US to have the United Auto Workers representing the hourly workers.

If the plant will keep going, it would mean "further overcapacity for Toyota," as Yasuaki Iwamoto, Okasan Securities auto analyst was quoted as saying by Kyodo.

"This plant mainly builds small vehicles, so it's not one that needs to go away. Besides, it might not be a bad thing for Toyota to have one UAW-represented plant," he added.

Update on August 28: Toyota announces NUMMI closure.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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