A very interesting story was brought to our attention by Bloomberg news. Apparently, the 2 percent price drop of the 2012 Camry, a model that will form the backbone of future sales, was partly due to the fact that the automaker re-used old robots from a previous joint-venture in California to build it instead of getting new ones.
“A lot of the tooling is new, however the equipment isn’t,” stated Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president for North American manufacturing and engineering. The company used equipment from the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant, and the end result is should be seen at the bottom line.
Bloomberg says that the eight versions of the car that’s going on sale this month cost $25,245.63 on average, down $550.63 from the models they replace.
The equipment came from a joint venture in California with the old General Motors, which abandoned the factory when it entered a backed bankruptcy in 2009.
A big part of the equipment went to Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant that makes most of the Camrys sold in North America. However, Tesla also bot some robots for its San Antonio plant in Texas. The Big T is also a shareholder in the electric carmaker.
The Camry price cuts should prove crucial in the fight with the Koreans.
Google News