California's last auto plant to close, reports say.

Toyota Motor Corp. has decided to close its auto plant in the Bay Area city of Fremont early next year directly costing California 4700 jobs and as many as 30,000 jobs as the ripple from the loss of $500 million from the local economy. The plant's fate has hung in the balance since GM announced last month that it would pull out of the joint venture as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.

At the Fremont, plant, which has the capacity to produce 400,000 vehicles a year, the assembly line making the Pontiac Vibe hatchback for GM and the Toyota Corolla compact car rolled out only 76,000 vehicles in the first six months of this year, a 25% decline from a year earlier. The line making the Toyota Tacoma pickup saw an 83% drop in production, according to the Automotive News Data Center. The plant was unprofitable last year, Toyota said.

It is estimated that 1,000 companies with operations in California supply parts and services to the factory, with the highest concentration of suppliers in Alameda, Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties, according to NUMMI.

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The cash for clunker program which cost the Treasury around $2.9 billion generated around 690,000 sales.

Detroit’s three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — accounted for 38.6 percent of the vehicles sold. That figure is substantially less than the 45 percent combined market share that the Detroit companies posted in the first seven months of the year. Japan’s largest automakers — Toyota, Honda and Nissan — sold 41 percent of the new vehicles in the program, compared with the 34 percent combined share they had through July of this year.

“This is a win for the economy, a win for the environment, and a win for American consumers,” said the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood. I have no idea what imaginary planet LaHood resides on. A large number of people who basically were suckered, much like predatory lenders getting people into houses they couldn't afford, already have buyers remorse. The program has been a major headache for Dealerships, as the government basically made up the rules for the program as they went along. If the dealers don't get their money from the government, which in some cases is questionable, that may be the final nail in the dealership's coffin.

To the degree the money did help the dealerships, regardless of whether the cars are domestic or imports, then good. To the degree the program did help American mfgs then good. To the degree the program helped consumers, then good. To the degree the program added to our twin deficits of trade and budget, that is fucked. To the degree the program may have cut into future retail sales of not just the auto market but general retail, that is fucked.