Hugo Chavez may seize Toyota factory

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez threatened today to expropriate Toyota’s local assembly plant if it did not produce an adequate number of vehicles designed for rural areas.

Mr Chavez said his socialist government was going to apply strict quotas regarding the number and types of vehicles firms could produce.

He ordered an immediate inspection of Toyota’s facilities to see how many “rustic vehicles” they were currently producing.

“They’ll have to fulfil (the quotas), and if not, they can get out,” said Mr Chavez during a televised address. “We’ll bring in another company.”

He said if the inspection showed Toyota was not producing what he thought it should, the government might consider taking over the facilities and have Chinese companies operate it.

“We’ll take, we’ll expropriate it, we’ll pay them what it’s worth and immediately call on the Chinese,” Mr Chavez said.

Chinese firms, he said, were willing to make vehicles made for the countryside.

Mr Chavez in recent years has nationalised dozens of foreign-owned companies and sometimes entire sectors of the economy, including cement firms, coffee companies and oil services firms.

It’s all part of his effort to move Venezuela toward “21st Century Socialism”.

Toyota’s assembly plant in Venezuela has more than 2000 workers, and has been in this South American nation for more than 50 years.

Attempts to reach Toyota’s local office were not successful.

Venezuela’s auto sector is in tatters amid constantly recurring labour problems which has led to a lack of productivity from workers.