Aside from the dash and steering wheel location (heh heh) ...

On different sides of the lake, there might be different connection points - drilled holes for bolts might be in slightly different locations... Also, sometimes the vehicles have a little different sheetmetal (door skins) between markets. Bumpers are a huge difference though, and all vehicles of a trim in the same market should have interchangeable bumpers (except fog lights, etc). Bottom line, 2012 Base and Sport had the same front fascia, but the Limited had a different part. If one trim level is only made in one factory, that would do it.

I know VW was making most golfs for North America in Mexico, but there was one model which was German-built only (I think it was the GTI but could have been the Diesel for certain years).

 

They are the same, just built in two different factories.

I wish I could have got a Japanese built unit over a Canadian one. But I don't think there are any JPN built units in Canada from what I've read.

 

If they are the same, why do the parts have different part numbers, depending on where it was built?

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Canada charges duty (6% ??) on RAVs coming into the country. The US doesn't charge any duty on them. From a business perspective Toyota would want to route all Japanese RAVs into the US to avoid the duty and go with Canadian built vehicles to fill the Canadian market.

 

Maybe it's because Japanese builds are shipped to so many other countries, they're options are greater; e.g. manual trans, safety features, emission requirements and parts sources.
Don't know about the 13 Rav, but searching for parts for Sequoia, Corolla and others for various years, on toyotapartscheap.com, shows this. Search on 'Japan' will reveal those marked for "Japan built" vehicles only, same for "USA". You'll see body and mechanical parts.

 

The only reason I was asking, was because I work for an aftermarket auto body parts company, and when ordering Toyota Parts, you have to know where it was built because the parts are different.

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Out of curiosity, for the same part is there a difference in price between the two countries of origin, or are they priced exactly the same?

 

That is a great question. I don't know. I don't actually do the ordering of the parts, so I don't have access to the prices, but I will check itout and let you know.

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When shopping for aftermarket wheels, they ask whether the car is Japanese or North American made. There must be differences.