Displaying Items By Tag: American

The American immigration system is anything but simple - even for the well-trodden path of Japanese people moving across the Pacific. As the Japan Times notes, America is reliant on immigration to help plug labor shortages, with migrants forming up to 17% of the workforce at any one time, yet it's rarely an easy process to work out as a would-be immigrant. With American immigration law currently in a tumultuous state, it's a difficult time to make heads or tails of the system and requires a deft touch.

Act fast if you want to explore the outdoors in a new Toyota Land Cruiser. It seems 2021 will be the current-generation SUV's last model year on the American market, according to a recent report, and it's not coming back.

An anonymous dealer source confirmed the off-roader's demise to Motor Authority. "Unfortunately it's gone, which I'm pretty bummed about. It's a punch to the gut for all of us enthusiasts who love the product. There's no illusion it's coming back, and it's completely dead for the moment, " the incognito employee told the publication.

TOKYO — Toyota plans to slash production in North America by nearly a third through October due to the coronavirus crisis and expects it will take some time for output to return to normal, a person familiar with the matter said.

Toyota will build about 800,000 vehicles, including its RAV4 SUV crossovers and Camry sedans, at plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico from April through to the end of October, the person told Reuters.

TOKYO — Honda on Tuesday said that it had furloughed workers at its U.S. plants, which will be closed until May 1 as demand for cars in the country has plummeted due to the spread of the coronavirus.

A spokesman for Honda, which employs about 18,400 workers at plants in Alabama, Indiana and Ohio, said the Japanese automaker would guarantee salaries through Sunday, having suspended operations on March 23. Operations at its Powersports plant in South Carolina, which makes all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), have been suspended since March 26.

Following the closure of car factories by Ford, GM, FCA and Honda, another group of automakers is shutting down plants in the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus threat. Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai have all announced they will be closing production facilities temporarily. The number of plants and the length of time closed varies significantly between companies, though.

Nissan, in a move similar to the American automakers, will shut down all U.S. factories starting Friday. The planned reopening of those plants is April 6. The company reports no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its factory employees and that this is a precautionary measure.

Honda on Wednesday announced plans for a six-day production suspension at all of its vehicle assembly and components plants in North America, reducing output by around 40,000 vehicles as it anticipates a slowdown in sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The temporary closure starts Monday, March 23 at all five of Honda's U.S. vehicle assembly plants, its Ohio transmission and engine plants, and its components plant in Georgia, plus five plants in Mexico and Canada. Honda's current plan is to resume production at all North American plants on March 31.

Consumer Reports is out with its top 10 picks for best cars of the year, with increased emphasis for 2020 on safety technologies and its rankings based for the first time on price point rather than segment categories. Models from Asian brands cleaned up, with the Tesla Model 3 as the lone entrant from an American automaker on the list and the controversial Toyota Supra making an appearance.

Among 33 brands tested, Porsche was named top vehicle brand, with Genesis staying at No. 2 and Subaru dropping two places to third.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz became a triple Dakar Rally champion with the Mini X-Raid team at the age of 57 on Friday, while American Ricky Brabec took the motorcycle crown for Honda and ended KTM's 18-year dominance. Brabec is the first American to win the Dakar on two wheels since the grueling endurance event started from Paris through the Sahara desert to the Senegalese capital in West Africa in 1979. Both were also the first winners in Saudi Arabia, a country making its debut as host of an event staged in South America for the past decade. Two times world rally champion Sainz, whose son and namesake races in Formula One for McLaren, ended the final timed stage with a 6 minutes and 21 seconds advantage over Qatar's defending champion Nasser Al Attiyah. Sainz also won Dakar in 2010 and 2018. His three victories have been with different car manufacturers, the first coming with Volkswagen and the second in a Peugeot. "We started winning this Dakar on day one, and we have gone flat out from the beginning," said Sainz, hailed by his son on Twitter as a legend. Brabec had started four previous Dakars, but Friday was only his second finish. "At the end, we put the pieces to the puzzle together," said the American after an event marred by the death of Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves in a fall last Sunday. "I woke up this morning just happy to ride the last day. And we're here. We won. We had to be smart and focused every day. There's no top guy on the team, we all work together, we're a family. We all won." Triple champion Al Attiyah won the final stage to finish as overall runner-up for Toyota with Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, a 13 times winner on two and four wheels and Sainz's team mate, completing the top three in his 31st Dakar. "I'm coming back to win next year. I just needed a bit more luck," said the Qatari, who applauded and embraced Sainz at the finish. Two times Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, a Dakar rookie, was fourth in the final stage and finished 13th overall for Toyota. Australian Toby Price, the 2019 motorcycle winner and leading KTM rider, finished third overall behind Chilean Pablo Quintanilla. "It's not the result we came for, but I'm quite glad. Every time that I've lined up and I've made the finish line, I've been on a podium step," said Price. "This, for me, is a big achievement, especially after these two weeks being tough. We just regroup and get ready for the Dakar 2021 and we come back here to try and get that number one plate back." In the truck category, Russian Andrey Karginov took his second Dakar crown in a Kamaz one-two with compatriot and team mate Anton Shibalov. Chile's Ignacio Casale was the quad champion for a third time while American Casey Currie won the lightweight side-by-side (SSV) category introduced in 2017.