PLANO (WBAP/KLIF) – Toyota Motor North America held the official grand opening of its new North American headquarters Thursday in Plano with a gala event attended by hundreds of partners and community leaders who had the first glimpse of Toyota’s new corporate campus. The company says their move to Texas that reaffirms the company’s longstanding commitment to the United States. Governor Greg Abbott spoke at the event.
“The opening of our new headquarters in Plano is an extraordinary next step in Toyota’s 60-year journey in the United States,” said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota in North America. “With team members from four different companies together in one campus location, we believe this will inspire greater collaboration, innovation, and faster decision making as we turn to and lead the future of mobility, all with an eye on our customers.”
Three years ago, Toyota announced its “One Toyota” initiative to create more unified operations in North America, in part, by bringing together its quality engineering, sales, marketing, financial services, and corporate functions in one location. Since then, the company has invested about $1 billion on the project to build its new corporate campus on 100 acres in Plano and move thousands of team members and their families from California, Kentucky and beyond to North Texas. With construction nearly complete, occupancy began in late spring, and an average of a couple hundred team members per week are moving in, which is expected to continue in phases through December.
The company will have jobs for up to 4,000 Toyota team members in Plano. In addition to the employees who chose to relocate, Toyota previously announced that it would hire more than 1,000 new team members from the rich mix of local talent and elsewhere. More than 90 percent of the company’s new hires from the past year for positions in Plano have come from the North Texas market. Toyota has already filled more than 75 percent of its open positions.
“The greatest resource we have here in the Lone Star State is our highly-skilled workforce that draws global businesses like Toyota to Texas every day,” said Governor Abbott. “The 4,000 jobs added and Toyota’s impressive new facility are proof of the remarkable momentum of Texas’ continuing economic expansion. I am proud that Toyota is expanding here, and I thank them for their commitment to being an important part of our Texas community.”
Copyright 2017. WBAP/KLIF News. All Rights Reserved.
Save
