Toyota moving Tacoma production to SanAntonio
Toyota Motor Corp. officially confirmed Thursday that it will relocate production of the Tacoma pickup from a plant in Northern California to its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in San Antonio by next summer.
The announcement came hours after the Japanese automaker ended its relationship with a joint venture plant in the San Francisco Bay area as part of an effort to reduce excess production capacity at plants around the globe and return to profitability.
As part of the plan to shift Tacoma production to San Antonio, Toyota will stop making vehicles at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant — its first manufacturing facility in the United States, which started in 1984 as a 50-50 business deal with General Motors — in March 2010.
San Antonio and Bexar County officials estimate 100,000 Tacomas, about 50,000 less than NUMMI is capable of producing at peak capacity, will be pumped out annually following a $100 million retooling at Toyota's San Antonio campus.
The Tacoma line not only will diversify the plant with a second vehicle but also is expected to add as many as 1,100 new jobs to the facility over time and will rev its 21 on-site suppliers back up to capacity and employ hundreds of new workers.
San Antonio and Toyota officials, however, say the true impact won't be known for some time.
Equally important, the relocation will return work at the San Antonio plant — which has the capacity to build about 200,000 Tundras annually — back to two shifts for the first time since it shuttered for three months last summer to sell off excess inventory.
“This is what we wanted, a dual line to alternate with the Tundras,” said Ramiro Cavazos, the chief executive of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who played a key role in luring Toyota to the Alamo City in 2002 as the city's economic development director. “We had thought several years ago it might be the Highlander hybrid, but this plant and its workers have the flexibility to keep jobs strong there.”
Temporary plant workers who had been laid off in San Antonio or those who applied for Tundra work and didn't get the job could be first in line for the new positions, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
It wasn't immediately clear if Toyota would offer jobs to any of the 4,700 NUMMI workers who will be unemployed next year as a result of the plant's closure.
“This is really a big shot in the arm, especially when you consider that the jobs multiplier is five, and I think that is conservative. By next year, we'll be running pretty darn strong. We're already doing well relative to other parts of the country,” Wolff said.
Toyota's decision to end its 25-year relationship with the NUMMI plant, which also produces the Corolla, came nearly two months after GM said it was pulling out of the joint venture.
Toyota moving Tacoma production to S.A.
The announcement came hours after the Japanese automaker ended its relationship with a joint venture plant in the San Francisco Bay area as part of an effort to reduce excess production capacity at plants around the globe and return to profitability.
As part of the plan to shift Tacoma production to San Antonio, Toyota will stop making vehicles at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant — its first manufacturing facility in the United States, which started in 1984 as a 50-50 business deal with General Motors — in March 2010.
San Antonio and Bexar County officials estimate 100,000 Tacomas, about 50,000 less than NUMMI is capable of producing at peak capacity, will be pumped out annually following a $100 million retooling at Toyota's San Antonio campus.
The Tacoma line not only will diversify the plant with a second vehicle but also is expected to add as many as 1,100 new jobs to the facility over time and will rev its 21 on-site suppliers back up to capacity and employ hundreds of new workers.
San Antonio and Toyota officials, however, say the true impact won't be known for some time.
Equally important, the relocation will return work at the San Antonio plant — which has the capacity to build about 200,000 Tundras annually — back to two shifts for the first time since it shuttered for three months last summer to sell off excess inventory.
“This is what we wanted, a dual line to alternate with the Tundras,” said Ramiro Cavazos, the chief executive of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who played a key role in luring Toyota to the Alamo City in 2002 as the city's economic development director. “We had thought several years ago it might be the Highlander hybrid, but this plant and its workers have the flexibility to keep jobs strong there.”
Temporary plant workers who had been laid off in San Antonio or those who applied for Tundra work and didn't get the job could be first in line for the new positions, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
It wasn't immediately clear if Toyota would offer jobs to any of the 4,700 NUMMI workers who will be unemployed next year as a result of the plant's closure.
“This is really a big shot in the arm, especially when you consider that the jobs multiplier is five, and I think that is conservative. By next year, we'll be running pretty darn strong. We're already doing well relative to other parts of the country,” Wolff said.
Toyota's decision to end its 25-year relationship with the NUMMI plant, which also produces the Corolla, came nearly two months after GM said it was pulling out of the joint venture.
Toyota moving Tacoma production to S.A.
