Toyota announced that it is establishing a new headquarters in North Dallas (Plano), Texas, for its North American operations, which means the carmaker is leaving Torrance, California, where it set up its U.S. headquarters in 1982.
Furthermore, Toyota said all three separate North American headquarters for manufacturing, sales and marketing, as well as corporate operations will relocate to a single campus in Plano within the next three years. Toyota’s North American finance arm also plans to move its headquarters to the new location. According to Toyota, these moves will affect approximately 4,000 employees.
Approximately 2,000 employees will be relocated from Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) in Torrance, California, about 1,000 employees from Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (TEMA) in Erlanger, Kentucky, and certain employees at Toyota Motor North America (TMA) in New York.
Toyota estimates that the majority of these employees will move in late 2016 or early 2017, when construction of the new headquarters is completed. The 1,000 employees of Toyota Financial Services (TFS) are not expected to move to Plano from the current headquarters in Torrance, California, until 2017.
“With our major North American business affiliates and leaders together in one location for the first time, we will be better equipped to speed decision making, share best practices, and leverage the combined strength of our employees,” said Jim Lentz, Toyota’s chief executive officer for the North America Region.
Obviously, the communities in Torrance and Erlanger are dissatisfied with Toyota’s decision, as the Japanese automaker was their biggest employer. In Torrance for example, Toyota employed 5 percent of the city’s workforce and contributed $1.2 million a year in tax revenue.
To alleviate the communities’ discontent, Toyota announced a $10 million philanthropic commitment to provide “continued funding for local non-profits and community organizations in these states over a five-year period beginning in 2017, over and above existing commitments.”
By Dan Mihalascu
Story References: Toyota, Reuters
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