Contribution of Toyota to the Economies of Fourteen States and the United States in 2003

Full Description:

The motor vehicle industry is the largest manufacturing industry in the United States. No other single industry is linked so much to the U.S. manufacturing sector or directly generates so much retail business and employment. This study describes the economic contribution of an important company included in the U.S. motor vehicle industry: the U.S. operations of Toyota North America.

The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) has estimated the economic contribution to the U.S. economy associated with the presence of the total U.S. (and the separate international) automotive sector in a number of studies. CAR’s most recent estimate of total contribution was completed for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) in 2004,1 and was an important update of a, prior study for the AAM and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM) in 2001.

This report, however, is a first estimate by CAR of the economic contribution associated with a single automotive firm in the United States. The importance of this study is directly related to the importance of foreign direct investment and operations in the continuing growth of the overall U.S. automotive industry. The decision by international automakers in the late 1980s to manufacture and operate in the United States is largely responsible for the U.S. motor vehicle industry first recovering, and then maintaining, its traditional position as the largest national automotive industry in the world. Toyota clearly was one of the major international automakers making this decision. This pattern of international investment continues today. A better understanding, then, of the role of Toyota in the U.S. economy leads to a better understanding of the industry as a whole and how it will change in the future and further impact the U.S. economy.

Prepared for Toyota Motor North America, Inc.