The Detroit News reported that Toyota’s top executive in the United States said that the company was reviewing its entire operation here, including whether to close a factory in California and when to open a factory in Mississippi.

In an hour-long interview with reporters at Toyota’s Washington office, Yoshimi Inaba said Toyota is not profitable in North America despite cost cutting in the organization.But he said he hopes the company could be profitable in its next fiscal year in North America.

Inaba, who is president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor America and chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, is taking up his responsibilities at a crucial time for the Japanese automaker. Toyota’s sales have fallen 38 percent in the first six months of the year — to 770,000 cars and trucks from nearly 1.25 million vehicles in the first six months of 2008. U.S. industry auto sales fell 35 percent in the first half of the year.

When Toyota starts talking about closing plants and or not opening new ones, then times are not only tough, they’re dire.

This new technology is called Remote Ignition Block and will allow an OnStar Advisor to send a remote signal to a subscriber’s stolen vehicle to prevent the vehicle from restarting once the ignition is turned off. This capability will not only help authorities recover stolen vehicles, but can also prevent dangerous high speed pursuits from starting.

“Remote Ignition Block is a prime example of the rapid pace of technological innovation underway at OnStar. We are developing services desired by our subscribers that deliver important societal benefits as well,”? said Chet Huber, OnStar president.

Remote Ignition Block builds on OnStar’s growing suite of Stolen Vehicle Assistance services which includes GPS technology that pinpoints a stolen vehicle’s exact location and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown® which can remotely slow a stolen vehicle to idle speed.

OnStar will make Remote Ignition Block is being rolled out to select GM 2009 and 2010 model year vehicles in the U.S. and Canada.

TUSTIN, Calif. (June 10, 2009)- A recent survey found that 81 percent of Americans agreed that the faster the government gets out of the auto business, the better.

More than half of consumers think auto companies bailouts were a bad idea. The survey, conducted by AutoPacific, also found that:

• Forty-eight percent DISAGREE that having the government in charge of General Motors and Chrysler will result in more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
• Fifty-four percent DISAGREE that having the government in charge of General Motors and Chrysler will result in much cleaner cars and trucks.
• Sixty-six percent DISAGREE that having the government in charge of General Motors and Chrysler will result in cars and trucks Americans want to buy.

It sounds like it’s the government in which Americans don’t have much faith.