Day 4: Toyota plant

We took a bus to Nagoya to visit a Toyota vehicle assembly plant. It took an hour to get there and we stopped at the rest area on the way there. For some reason we had 2 hours to waste around truck drivers who were eating and resting there. The food wasn’t great, but the whole idea of ordering using the vending machine was pretty exciting. You put the money inside the vending machine and then select the meal number and get a ticket which you give to the lady over the counter so they can make your food. I think it’s a smart idea that saves everyone’s time. If that machine could accept credit cards that would be even better for some people. But I guess people in Japan still prefer carrying cash.

The tour to the Toyota plant itself was interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything new because we’ve discussed most of it in my Operations Management class with Dr. Taghabony. The presentation was quite short and it was just the basics that most business students are already familiar with. However, I was still very interesting because now we could actually to see it all. What I didn’t like was that you guide could not properly answer my question that has been bothering me ever since we came to Japan. One of their Toyota models (Toyota Harrier) looks exactly like Lexus RX in the US. The only difference is that it has a Toyota badge. The answer I got was that some people can buy a different badge and replace the original one. Why would anyone in the world would want to replace Lexus sign with the Toyota one??? She also said that Lexus is very popular in Japan…So it didn’t make any sense which greatly disappointed me. I think she just didn’t have enough knowledge about the difference between two, even though I showed her exactly what I was talking about. That evening I had to do my own research.

In Japan, the SLV concept appeared in first-generation Toyota Harrier form. The first-generation Harrier was a sales success, and many went to other right hand drive markets in Asia as grey imports. The Harrier continued largely unchanged until November 2000, when the 2.2 L 5S-FE engine was replaced by the 2.4 L 2AZ-FE 4-cylinder engine, producing 159 hp (119 kW) JIS (117 kW) and 221 Nm (163 ft·lbf). As before, the engine was offered with either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The change in engine also meant a change in model code, which was now ACU10 for the front-wheel drive version and ACU15 for the all-wheel drive version. A small facelift was also performed on the Harrier.

In February 2003, the second generation Toyota Harrier (codename ACU30 and MCU30 for the front-wheel drive models, and ACU35 and MCU35 for the all-wheel drive models) was launched in Japan. Mechanical specification was largely similar to the first-generation Harrier, with the same engine and drive train combinations (2.4 L and 3.0 L V6 with or without all-wheel drive). The main difference was a new 5-speed automatic transmission with +/- shift replacing the 4-speed item in the 3.0 L V6, and the availability of "AIRS" air-suspension on the 3.0 L V6 models. Toyota added a new optional safety feature known as the Pre-Collision System (PCS)[

The second generation Lexus RX was launched for European and Asian markets in early 2003 (including Singapore, where it succeeded the previously sold Harrier, South Korea, and Taiwan), it continued to be called the RX 300 and was made in Japan. Mechanical specifications were more or less identical to the 3.0 L V6 Harrier, with only the all-wheel drive version available, once again the air-suspension could be specified.

From what I can tell, Lexus brand only came to Japan in 2005. Toyota brand is well established in Asia. Most of the Toyota-badged Lexus cars in Japan don't even have a Toyota badge in the front 9just on the back), they have their own badge - Soarer, Windom, Aristo, Celsior, Harrier, Altezza. Toyota does not really need Lexus to help out high end image. That’s why we have Lexus in the US, just because it’s considered luxurious and Toyota can sell it for a lot more. However, I was very mad that the Toyota tour guide didn’t even know the answer to this simple question.