Friday, Sep 01, 2006 at 11:33
You're absolutely right John.
The cars are designed by the same teams as the previous Japanese-built models.
Large percentages of the components will still come from the same suppliers in Japan, or China or Australia or wherever. The engines are just as likely still made on the same production line somewhere else.
The design parameters may have changed ... a lighter vehicle may have been designed with lighter panels, but for sure, the panel thickness is not at all related to where the vehicle is built, except if the two are driven by the same cost-cutting mentality.
Toyota is a big six sigma outfit, and regardless of where the vehicle is built it would have been designed for the same quality of production, have the same tolerances, etc.
Some cars are just poorly designed, and whatever quality the manufacturing plant produces will have little impact on the overall product quality. Build quality is just ONE part of the question.
It pays to think ...
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