Toyota Motor Sales of North America have decided to start exporting their SUV's, in efforts to increase world wide sales and decrease non-moving inventory here in the United States. The decision has been looked at as previously unthinkable, a Japanese company using the United States as a "production base" for sales to the Middle East and China, who are currently experiencing a booming demand for larger scale SUV's. "It was the strength of the yen in an earlier time that compelled Japanese automakers to start producing vehicles in the United States in the first place". The exportation of Toyota Sequoia SUV's could start as early as this summer, and Sienna minivans could go to China as soon as 2010. Asahi Shimbun of Toyota stated "Raising factory utilization rate is crucial to Toyota's goal in maintaining high profits". As reported by Forbes.