Fallacies

From: MM001 1/24/10

There have been numerous fallacies that have been foisted on us right from the beginning. A couple of them are making the rounds lately.

Blaming GM for Shutting Down Nummi
GM owns ½ the shares of NUMMI. So when GM files for bankruptcy, it stand to reason that their half of NUMMI can be sold to Toyota for pennies on the dollar. Toyota’s corporate website shows NUMMI’s total investment as $1.3 billion. If one were to make the assumption that GM paid ½ and GM’s share of NUMMI is actually worth $650 million, the effects of bankruptcy would further lower that number. That is chump change as Toyota has $56 billion in cash. Also, most of the vehicles produced are Toyotas. The Vibe accounted for a small portion of the revenues of NUMMI. Most of the revenue come from Corollas and Tacomas. If anything, it looks like it would be an opportunity for Toyota, but Toyota decided not to acquire the other half. Why? What’s the real reason?

http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/operations/manufacturing/nummi/

NUMMI as separate from Toyota NUMMI is listed on the Toyota corporate site as one of their own.
http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/operations/manufacturing/

NUMMI is a privately held corporation that is owned by GM (now MLC) and Toyota. From what is understood, it has always been 50/50.

TMMTX is Toyota Motor Mfg. Texas, Inc. They are also a privately held corporate entity; but in their case, they are owned by the Toyota corporation 100%.
http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/operations/manufacturing/tmmtx/

NUMMI was Toyota’s first plant in the U.S. and they used GM’s facilities to get a foothold into the U.S. car market. The only difference between NUMMI and a factory like TMMTX is on paper. NUMMI and Toyota is one in the same. We are (more accurately… were) audited by TEMA. We make Corollas and Tacomas. We use the Toyota Production System. We are a Toyota plant.