Made in Japan vs. the U.S.

[Forest8]

Hi. I posted this earlier today on 'greenhybrid.com' - perhaps there are more detailed answers here:

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...Thanks...

[Tideland Prius]

It's because of the 6-spd automatic transmission associated with the V6 models hence the drop in recommendation for the V6 model.

TCH is assembled in the Tahara Plant in Japan (as well as Kentucky).