It turns out that the most “American” car in America is the Toyota Avalon, which is like 85% assembled in Georgetown Kentucky, lord only knows where the parts come from.
I guess the first thing this means to me is that I owe Martha Layne Collins an apology. She was governor of Kentucky in the early 80s, and she actively enticed Toyota to come to Georgetown. If one assumes that the economy is doing something positive and that slightly better cars are better for the environment than slightly worse cars and that our entire car culture is not propelling us into a confrontation with this generation’s General Winter, by which I mean that if every step towards cars is a step towards our own doom, then there is no good step in that direction, but if there is such a thing as a good step in that direction, bringing Toyota to Georgetown was it.
If nothing else it gives Central Kentucky a leg up in the inevitable robot wars to come.
