stoje_i_patrze
24.12.09, 23:24
a Hugo coraz lepsze rzeczy wymyśla:
Venezuela Threatens to Expropriate Toyota Plant
CARACAS—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to expropriate Toyota
Motor Corp.'s local assembly plant if it doesn't produce more vehicles
designed for rural areas and increase technology transfer.
Mr. Chavez said late Wednesday the Japanese auto maker needs to transfer more
new technologies and manufacturing methods from headquarters to its local unit
in Venezuela.
While Mr. Chavez directed most of his criticism at Toyota, he said other auto
assemblers, including Fiat SpA and General Motors, are also guilty of not
sharing technology from abroad with their Venezuelan units.
Mr. Chavez said his socialist government is going to apply strict quotas
regarding the number and types of vehicles auto makers can produce. The
president also ordered his trade minister, Eduardo Saman, to inspect the
Toyota plant, saying it may not be making enough "rustic vehicles," a style of
all-terrain vehicle that is much-needed in Venezuela's countryside, where they
are often converted into minibuses.
"They'll have to fulfill [the quotas], and if not, they can get out," Mr.
Chavez said during a televised address. "We'll bring in another company."
He said if the inspection shows Toyota isn't producing what he thinks it
should and isn't transferring technology, the government may consider taking
over its plant and have a Chinese company operate it. "We'll take it, we'll
expropriate it, we'll pay them what it's worth and immediately call on the
Chinese," Mr. Chavez said. Chinese companies, he said, are willing to make
vehicles made for the countryside.
Officials at Toyota de Venezuela and at Toyota's corporate headquarters in
Japan weren't available for comment Thursday. A Toyota spokeswoman in the
company's Washington office for media inquiries said she couldn't comment on
the matter.
GM and Fiat officials in Venezuela were unavailable for comment.
Toyota's annual report says it has 90% of voting rights in its Venezuelan
business. It's not clear who controls the remaining 10%. Toyota's assembly
plant in Venezuela has more than 2,000 workers, and has been in the South
American nation for more than 50 years.
In recent years, Mr. Chavez has nationalized dozens of foreign-owned companies
and sometimes entire sectors of the economy, including cement companies,
coffee companies and oil-services firms. The moves were part of his effort to
move Venezuela toward "21st century socialism."
Venezuela's auto sector is in tatters amid recurring labor problems that have
led to a lack of productivity. Analysts say many auto workers hope their
company is nationalized so they can become de facto government workers and
enjoy the extra job security that comes with that status.
Toyota ran into labor problems earlier this year that led the company in March
to take out an advertisement in a local newspaper warning that it may not
remain here much longer. "For the first time in 51 years of uninterrupted work
in Venezuela, the presence of Toyota de Venezuela C.A. in the country is
seriously threatened," the company said in an ad in the EL Nacional daily.
In May, a Toyota union leader was shot dead. He had led a monthlong strike
last year that paralyzed the Toyota plant in the eastern city of Cumana. In
September, prosecutors brought a murder charge against a man accused of
killing the union leader, but gave no indication of a motive.
As a result of low productivity, demand for automobiles far outstrips supply
in Venezuela. Demand is also enhanced by subsidized gasoline in this oil-rich
nation that makes a gallon of gasoline cost about seven cents.
Eduardo Blanco, who manages a Toyota dealership in the Los Palos Grandes
neighborhood of Caracas, said last week that he has 600 people on a waiting
list for vehicles, and that only a half a dozen cars arrive at his lot each
month.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704039704574615990386867578.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
