VW ponders building car in Japan

You can buy a Brazilian-made Volkswagen and you can buy an American-made Volkswagen. Maybe sometime after 1981 you will be able to buy a VW made in Japan.

A Japanese Volkswagen?

That's right. Volkswagen and Nissan recently announced they are investigating the possibilities of producing VWs in Nissan's homeland facilities. Long a believer in producing automotive products in countries where these are sold, VW decided on this survey course after reviewing its 1979 sales in Japan. Total VW imports came to over 17,000 units -- only a beginning slice of the local market but a figure that exceeded the combined Japanese import totals of all US automakers for last year.

Producing cars inside Japan would give VW a toehold with lowered labor costs, relief from import duties, and opportunities to hit the homeland market with ne eded specialties such as righthand drive vehicles.