We now have 3 Toyota vehicles - a 1994 4 cyl. pickup (T-100), a 1998 V6 Camry, and a new 2009 TCH (LOVE IT!!!). The pickup and V6 Camry were both made in Japan, while the TCH was made in the U.S. (Georgetown, Kentucky).

Were the 2007 and 2008 TCHs also made in the U.S.? How has reliability been for hybrid vehicles made in Kentucky (non-hybrids also)? Are the motors, HSD, etc. still made in Japan, and then brought over to the U.S. for assembly? Consumer Reports states that the '08 V6 Camry is a bad bet for predicted reliability, while it highly recommends the '08 4 cyl. and the TCH - why is that? Where else is the TCH assembled? What about the Prius and Highlander hybrid?

Lots of questions, sorry...

 

Toyota views the TCH as a "Global Strategic Product" and plans to start production this year in Thailand and in 2010 in Australia. They expect to produce 10,000 a year by 2011.

It's kinda nice to know I own a "Global Strategic Product".

Source = http://http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/08/ebr18.htm

 

TCHs have been made in both Japan and the US. Not sure if they're still coming in from Japan, but I think all of the very first ones sold in the US came from Japan. Mine did, there used to be more discussion of US vs Japan-built TCHs, but probably a lot more US built these days so fewer people talk about it.

One difference I believe hearing about was some of the random goodies may only work with Japan-built cars, like the (Japanese Toyota site listed) watches and other random things that you can buy as your key fob.

 

FWIW, out of curiosity I checked my VIN#, and the 11th digit is a 6 which means it came from Japan. I have an '09 TCH that I just purchased in April.

 

Last I heard the 1st digit determined location of manufacture. A "J" was for Japan, anything else was US.

This may have changed over the years however....

08FEH

 

Everything you'd ever want to know about VIN numbers, but were afraid to ask.

 

I work for a vehicle manufacturer (not cars). A lot of people may not realize just how much information is encoded in the VIN.

The 11th digit identifies plant of manufacture. In Toyota's case, it's:
C - Cambridge, ONT
S - Princeton, IN
U - Georgetown, KY
Z - Fremont, CA
0 - 9 - Japan

 

If you don't want to decode it, the time and place of manufacture is also on a sticker in the driver's door jam.

(My July 2007 TCH was manufactured in Japan)

 

Mine is from Georgetown, Kentucky. I hope to one day go for a tour of the factory. I think the TCH is a great car and would also look into getting a HiHy possibly in a few years. Who knows.........one TCH and one HiHy?!

 

Having seen this note, I went looking for the info on the door jamb even though I had already checked via the VIN#. That sticker showed Kentucky, which was a shock. Checking the VIN# from that sticker it turns out it doesn't match the VIN# on my insurance paperwork. On the door jamb, the VIN# shows a U for Kentucky build.

So, my earlier statement that it came from Japan was apparently in error. Not sure how this error started, but now I'm going to have to dig through ALL the paperwork on the car to see where else the VIN# may be incorrect (title, registration, etc).