Toyota Motor has now confirmed much of this earlier report.
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Toyota was expected on Monday (28 April) to announce a major restructure of its California-based US sales and marketing operation, including voluntary layoffs, along with a move of some operations close to Dallas, Texas.
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Nissan eight years ago moved its entire headquarters operation from the Los Angeles region to Tennessee.
Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Detroit News said Toyota would move “substantial parts of its US headquarters” – [Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc (TMS)] from Torrance, California, to suburban Dallas [the Wall Street Journal said Plano, about 19 miles northeast of downtown] to make savings.
Employees would be informed of the plan on Monday, the Detroit paper’s sources said.
The paper said the was a blow to the ‘Golden State’, which is the biggest US vehicle market and has the strictest clean air rules. The Prius hybrid has been the state’s top selling model for the past two years.
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By GlobalDataTexas governor Rick Perry has made repeated visits to California to lure businesses to his state with promises of lower taxes and easier regulations, the Detroit News said.
Earlier, a company spokeswoman on Sunday confirmed the restructuring to the Reuters news agency, after the move was reported by the Wall Street Journal, and said it would be effective on 1 May.
TMS employs over 5,000 at a vast ‘campus’ in Torrance, south of Los Angeles. The facility is within a few blocks of American Honda’s sales and marketing headquarters and the rival automakers a few years ago cooperated to install a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle refilling point at a neighbourhood Shell service station on land owned by Toyota.
“Roles and responsibilities will be redefined” to create a more efficient operation, the spokeswoman told Reuters. Those in axed posts would be able to apply for new jobs in the restructured operation, in other parts of TMS, at Toyota Financial or take voluntary redundancy.
The TMS unit handles sales, service, advertising and public relations. The automaker has formed separate incorporated companies for most operating units in the US such as its original Kentucky factory and newer plants in Alabama, Indiana, Mississippi and Texas, and also has a small parts factory in Long Beach, California. A 2014 company brochure lists nine vehicle manufacturing and parts plants alone and it also has R&D centres and design studios.
Japanese and Korean automakers established their US sales and marketing units on the west coast after pioneers like Toyota (early 1950s) and Honda (late ’50s) started sales there and the states, especally California, subsequently became prime ‘import’ markets, enjoying a big boost to sales as a result of the two global oil crises in the 1970s because they sold wide ranges of small, fuel-efficient cars superior to most US-brand models.
Nissan broke the trend in 2006 when it moved from the LA area to Nashville, Tennessee, citing lower costs (including employee housing, labour and taxes) and closer proximity to its Smyrna and other southern state plants among its reasons.
Reuters said it was unclear if the TMS restructure was the first step of a similar move to another state. Toyota’s spokeswoman told the news agency the automaker would make a full announcement on Monday.
