Center for Labor Education & Research, University of Hawaii - West Oahu: Honolulu Record Digitization Project
Honolulu Record, Volume 10 No. 2, Thursday, August 8, 1957 p. 3
Japanese Jeeps Replace Donkeys In Kona; 10 Now on Trial
With the recent importation of Japanese jeeps into the Territory, Japanese automobiles have begun to compete with U.S. and foreign cars on the local market Ten Toyota Land Cruisers were brought in from Japan for use by Kona coffee- farmers.
In recent years Kona coffee growers have uprooted coffee trees for autornobile roads in their farms on the Maunaloa slope and the four-wheel-drive vehicles have largely replaced donkeys for coffee hauling on individual farms.
Efforts of Kona farmers to purchase used military jeeps have not been satisfactory, and the demand has not been met by Honolulu suppliers.
If the experiment with. Japanese jeeps proves successful, others will be brought in, reports say.
A recent visitor to Japan informed this weekly that Japan is doing everything possible to step up its exports, and this includes auto exports He says that it was reported din Japan that the Toyota Motor Co is planning to establish an auto assembly plant on the West Coast It has one in Mexico and Japanese cars are plentiful there.
Japan is boosting its car production Total production of all kinds of, pars was 70,000 in 1955 The 1956 total was 110, 872.
The auto industry is concentrating on truck manufacture. Last year's total was divided into 72,-807 trucks, 31,986 passenger cars and 6,052 buses.
Of this number only 2,500 were exported in 1956. The markets are Southeast Asia, Middle and Near East and Central and South America.
Eighty four percent of Japanese cars produced last year use Diesel engines.
According to figures obtained from the local Japanese consulate general, nine auto companies produced nearly 15,400 cars In May 1957. If this figure is taken as the monthly average, Japanese car production would climb to about 185,000 this year.