Weak Yen Allows Japan to Keep Excess Car Capacity, Ford Says

Ford Motor Co. contends that the yen's decline against the dollar is allowing Japanese automakers to continue to operate their plants at home at excess capacity by shipping more vehicles to the U.S., Bloomberg News reports.

Strong vehicle demand in America has most carmakers there operating near maximum capacity, thus creating shortages of some models, the news service notes. It adds that IHS Automotive estimates that Japan has about 2 million units of excess auto capacity.

Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford's Americas unit, tells Bloomberg that when companies such as Honda and Toyota import vehicles from Japan to cover the U.S. supply shortfall instead of expanding local factory capacity, they are depriving American workers of job opportunities.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally declared in June that Japan is manipulating its currency to give its exporters an advantage overseas. The 12% decline in the yen's value this year has rendered Japan-made cars less expensive abroad. But the favorable exchange rates follow several years in which the soaring currency hurt sales of exported Japanese vehicles.