Despite $$$$, Toyota choses Canada over US

This article showed up in Fark yesterday:

Toyota-New-Plant, 2nd Writethru Bgt

Acknowledging it was the “worst-kept secret” throughout Ontario’s automotive industry, Toyota confirmed months of speculation Thursday by announcing plans to build a 1,300-worker factory in the southwestern Ontario city.

[snip]

The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.

Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

Well, that’s certainly noteworthy. Common sense would say “Go build your factory in the place that gives you the most cash back”, right? But yet, despite being offered double the cash in some US states, Toyota chose Canada.

That seems really wacky until you read on:

[Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association] said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained – and often illiterate – workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use “pictorials” to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

Ouch!!

Now, it’s not clear whether that’s an accurate description or not (sounds like the winner is gloating), but still, knowing how many quality issues the Honda Odyssey has faced in its most recent launch – well, the statement probably has some nugget of truth.

There’s a lot of hand wringing about losing jobs to India, China, and other developing nations. But the reality is that we’re losing jobs to developed nations as well – like Canada!

I don’t have the solution, but I hope in the next election cycle that someone proposes one.