Toyota USA might be moving its US headquarters to Texas, unconfirmed reports say. UPDATE: It was confirmed this morning by Toyota in an official press release. The move would put Toyota USA’s executives closer to its manufacturing hubs in San Antonio, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The word is that Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, has been chosen.
The news broke Sunday evening on Bloomberg, leaked by sources within Toyota who did not want to be named. They say high-level employees were informed Friday and were expected to inform their subordinates this week.
Since its founding in 1957, Toyota Motor Sales USA has been located in SoCal, the nexus of American car culture. Starting from a small dealership in Hollywood to what is now a sprawling campus in Torrance, it has been a Los Angeles area fixture.
Toyota currently employs over 5,000 people in southern California. However, the fact that Texas is considered a business-friendly state with fewer taxes, fewer regulations and a lower cost of living is also being proffered as possible incentives.
Of course, this echoes Nissan USA’s 2006 move from California to Nashville, Tennessee. Only 42% of its staff decided to stay. Toyota’s expected to take at least two years to make the transition complete.
We have millions of questions right now and rumors are flying around the web like bullets in a John Woo film. Friends who work at Toyota are still reeling from the news. Our main concerns are what will happen to the Toyota USA Museum and its substantial archive. We’ll keep you posted as the story develops.
“Our main concerns are what will happen to the Toyota USA Museum and its substantial archive.”
Scrapped like that one Cash for Clunkers commercial they did…..
Everyone, I’m sure, hopes that the museum and archives, and all other historic property gets transferred, but really, how could anyone possibly blame them for moving?
8.84% vs. 0% on many millions of ollars.
There was an article I didn’t read about Cali wanting to, as I recall, raise taxes on companies that pay their top execs more than 100 times the median pay of the company. Whatever you think of corporate pay and all that is immaterial, so don’t flame me; that ain’t my point… The tax savings is the point.
Stars stars at night are big and bright,
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!!!
What about Calty? That’ll likely stay in SoCal, right?
Yes, from what I’ve heard Calty will stay in SoCal. It wouldn’t make sense for them to move away from car design mecca.
Why keep CALTY in CA? With all the technology available, I’d think they could move it with no great problems…
Want “surfer culture?” How about Galveston? (- with a great song, that you now have to go look up to hear the clip. You’re welcome. 🙂 )
Although I know it’s probably too late (I briefly glanced at the headlines of my morning LA Times, today), “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”. Even though I have no direct connections with Toyota Motor Sales, it was still somewhat comforting to see their sprawling facilities in Torrance. And the little development faiclity quietly sitting in the middle of a residential area, And I enjoyed visiting their museum every chance I could get (the last time was last month for my credit union’s annual meeting held there). Just like when Nissan left, only worse since I am a confirmed Toyotaku (four cars and counting)…
As a fellow Toyotaku I feel your pain, Steve.
Just heard the announcement today. Looks like its some divisions will go to Texas & some to Michgan in 2016.
Official press release from this morning:
http://corporatenews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/toyota+new+north+american+headquarters.htm?view_id=37961
I’m actively updating my resume as we speak.
When I think of Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee, I usually think of the college grid-iron more than J-tin, but that has certainly changed (Ok, maybe that was a stretch). Anyway, I am still not happy about Nissan’s move to the Volunteer state, but I understand that sunshine alone will not keep companies in Cali. I also saw the L.A. Times article which mentioned 60 companies have moved from CA to TX in just the last two years. I am not a Toyotaku, but I still appreciated having the Japanese company/community with the surrounding stores and restaurants it supported. I have visited the former site of Nissan in Gardena, CA and there certainly seems to be a void that I fear will be the fate of Torrance as well. It is unfortunate to see any company leave SoCal, but at least we still have Sriracha Hot Sauce. 5 minutes later (a la SpongeBob)…”Texas Officials Will Visit California To Try To Lure Sriracha Hot Sauce Maker To Lone Star State.” D’oh!
Wasn’t Sriracha Hot Sauce the one that the surrounding people were complaining, like to the point of a lawsuit, about the smell from the facility?
Yes, there have been some heated complaints. However, reports have at least 10 other states smelling the opportunity to attract the company, which had $60 million in sales last year. Didn’t mean to get off topic, but seeing Nissan and now Toyota move kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
One “neighbor” complained, curiously the local government assured Huy Fong foods that the complaint would cease so long as the company paid off the city of Irwindale (which only has 1500 actual residents, since its just a giant industrial park) to the tune of a few million dollars. And this complaint only came after Irwindale tried a previous shakedown and got nothing from it. Tran should absolutely move his company. Same for Toyota. Who wants to run a business in an environment like that. Probably everybody will be happier when those evil polluting corporations move to Texas or wherever than holier-than-thou California.
“Heated” complaints? (Hot sauce – heated?) Nice!
I won’t tell anyone about the little topic diversion if you won’t! 🙂
It’s always ONE twit that complains, and the whole world has to cave to them.
D’OH!!!! I forgot about all the neighborhood stores and restaruants and the effect this may have on them. I am in the process of trying to move back to Gardena because of those restaurants and stores. I hope this doesn’t screw up my plans to have from a different restaurant every day…
This is my concern – how will Toyota’s move affect the local economy?
California needs to wake up before it digs itself into a hole so deep it can’t get out…
I am just surprised it hasn’t made the move sooner. California isn’t exactly the friendliest state to do business in. When I think of that state, I imagine it as some sort of communist state in the making where the government wishes to control everyone and everything within it’s power down to the tiniest detail. It has a beautiful climate, but it just sounds like an ugly place to live. I just wish Toyota would make the move to my home state -Florida- so I could apply for a job there. We have low taxes and an awesome climate too…
Small business is what has a hard time here, more than big business or people generally. But big business is starting to see advantages to moving out, too. California will probably figure it out and do better, later on, after many businesses have left. Kind of like Detroit started building better cars, but only after the Japanese stole (earned, actually) a huge part of the US car market.
As an individual, I look at certain laws in California (and a few other places like New York) and see it as a stifling place to live. Namely, these are the vehicle inspections and smog checks as well as the firearms laws.The thought of living somewhere with a magazine size restriction on the guns I can buy just seems horrible. It’s not that I am into guns, I just want the right to have them should I so choose and I don’t want to be limited to 10 rounds or less. I also don’t want the government looking over my vehicles with a fine tooth comb to see if all my vacuum hoses are connected. Where I live, there are no inspections, which was my primary reason for moving here.
What will happen is that big businesses will move out, and the BILLIONS of dollars lost will have to be made up by the small businesses, and the people, in general.
Griot’s Garage moved out years ago. I asked the woman when I called in for some stuff why they moved; she said it was a cost-based decision.
I read somewher they passed a “temporary” tax hike to 11%, (income tax, I think, and the quotes were on THAT persons comment) to balance the budget, though that apparently doesn’t address the state’s debt. Somebody in the comments section of that page theorized that Silicon Valley companies might be mulling the idea. Could you imagine what would happen then? Not like they have a farming industry – anymore…
The state will eventually go the way of Stockton, and that other city, whose name I don’t remember… It’ll take longer, but unless they cut the taxing/spending and overregulation that are chasing business and people out, they WILL go. Let the Hollywood crowd pay for it all. They always complain how the rich “don’t pay their fair share,” but ain’t writin’ no checks from THEIR accounts.
… and if Detroit had been building better quality before the Japanese “invaded,” maybe GM would still have the 50% market share they once did. Think about that: GM ALONE had 1/2 of ALL the vehicles on the road.
I was talking with a guy at my dealership whern I went in for inspection. He was CLEARLY in his 80s; oxygen tank, and all. I told him that I’m guessing he used to drive American cars, and asked what made him switch. One word: “QUALITY.” To pry one of HIS generation out of their Buick, Mercury, or whatever takes some doing.
Wow that got longer than I expected…
What will happen is that eventually the whole economy of California will collapse under the weight of government largesse. At that point, everyone who was dependent on the government social programs to be able to afford to live will find suddenly that they can no longer afford to live there. That is when the social unrest happens and the state goes the way of Detroit.
Margaret Thatcher said it best: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Yup.
Glad you’re okay, with pretty much liquid hell rollin’ through down there.
Hey – stay safe, dude the big $#!+’s comin’ your way…
The bottom line is that people and now, corporations are fleeing the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia. This is a very big move for a company that size and I am sure they thought about it for some time. I think it is fine that state and local government runs things the way they think (or want you to think) the public wants. They also have to be prepared to accept the consequences of those policies as well.
Is Texas ready for all the people and businesses moving there?
As reported in the Wall Street Journal today:
“Now, the state’s largest cities are seeing crowded highways, strained water supplies and other pressures that have come with the growth. And Texas politicians—protective of the small-government, low-tax policies many of them believe are at the root of the state’s success—are grappling with how to pay the price of prosperity.”
It may take some money to build up infrastructure, but haven’t they actually been running a surplus the past few years?
So ya burn some of that, then get it back through the taxes/fees thay DO have, and attract more economy . . . to whatever land the BLM doesn’t try to steal from THERE. (TX/OK border, if you haven’t caught any news lately.)
My understanding is that the Republic of Texas actually retained the right to secede.
They have the cattle, they have the industry (including oil), they have the guns, and they have both pride in their state and the attitude, so everybody knows: “Don’t Mess With Texas.”
That’s one of like, 4 states I’d go.
I can tell you for a fact that the traffic situation has gone to shit in the NTX area as a result of the massive construction projects that they arbitrarily started in the past couple years. It’s bad, they have very little regard for maintaining the safe flow of traffic through these areas. There aren’t viable detours where closures occur. They don’t pay attention to the environmental concerns that lead to washouts of existing roads from debris that is poorly contained. The work isn’t being done quickly or to a particularly high standard of quality.
I have friends working in the engineering and construction firms contracted for several major portions of the ongoing construction and the mismanagement is rampant. This leads to companies taking taxpayer-funded checks and not delivering, so the contracts are re-sold (again using taxpayer money) to other contractors who do the same thing, and so on and so on…
BUT that said, we’re still in a much better position to offer companies and their employees a viable place to live and do business from a lot of different perspectives.
If CA wanted to keep business in their state, they should have given some consideration to that before they tax and legislate it to the point of strangulation. I laugh when people tell me that Cali is a car-friendly state… and in the next sentence complain about the strict emissions standards and the draconian consequences for failing them. They close several of their racetracks due to encroachment of suburban sprawl into surrounding areas; the new neighbors don’t like the noise so they petition and shut down the pre-existing venues (often family-owned businesses) because they can. Their police pioneer invasive tactics and equipment to record motorists and penalize them remotely.
I myself am a transplant; born in CA, spent most of my life in TX and wouldn’t go back unless things changed drastically.
Waste, fraud and mismanagement in a gov’t funded project? No! That doesn’t happen!
If I were able to escape Pgh, I’d be looking at Texas, the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. Maybe Nevada; maybe. California was high on my list when I was younger, but then I learned about all the stuff you mentioned, plus, there’s the earthquakes. I’ll take my chances with blizzards, or the potential for a hurricane. At least you know those things are coming ahead of time.
They can keep Hollywood, too.
Oh – since you mentioned about the quality of the road work out there, you’ll appreciate this: According to local news here, Pgh has about 500 miles of roads/streets, most of which are in need of repair or resurfacing. With puilling some funds from other things, and some projects that somehow came in under budget, we’re able to repave up to about 40 miles of them. Not a typo there; FORTY.
I picture the southwest having straight, smooth roads. Turn on the A/C, set the cruise, and roll. Lose the roof at night, crank up the radio, and see where the road takes you.
If Ben’s Supra has a moonroof, that’d be quite acceptable for the soul-reclamation project
.
Just heard on the tube a few minutes ago:
Some blogger is equating what Rick Perry did to “economic terrorism,” even though NY is advertising “10 years – no corporate taxes.” (Though after the 10 years, look out!)