Toyota, Japan's leading automobile maker, is reportedly planning to shift its U.S. sales and marketing headquarters to Texas, abandoning California as the Golden State has become too crowded with competitors and expensive for the company.
Toyota will be taking its operations from Torrance, Calif., to Plano, a suburban area in Dallas, Texas, by August and will move about 5,000 employees and managers from the current state. Employees will be provided financial assistance and packages to make the move, reports Bloomberg.
The transition is expected to complete by 2016. A voluntary separation program has also been initiated in case the workers don't want to move, Toyota told the news site separately. The scheme is a part of the company's decision to reshuffle and re-organize its sales unit.
"Roles and responsibilities will be redefined to create a team that is more integrated, flexible and efficient. Associates whose positions are significantly different in the new organization have been provided with several options, including applying for opportunities within the new marketing organization or in other departments at TMS or Toyota Financial Services," Toyota told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement.
This is not Toyota's first time in Texas. It has a truck assembly plant in San Antonio. The company has 14 units in North America and is not only recognized for its cars but its eco-friendly methods of manufacturing too. The company recently earned its 10th "Energy Star" as it saved enough energy to power Oakland, Calif., for a whole year!
Earned our 10th @ENERGYSTAR award. What does a decade of reducing energy use across 14 N. American plants look like? pic.twitter.com/DfvBedAsEZ
— Toyota USA (@Toyota) April 24, 2014
Toyota set up its sales base in California about half a century ago. The state offered the best amenities then and was also the closest to Japan. It became a hub for Asian firms. However, over the years the conditions in the state have been altering with changes in the automobile industry. The high tax rates, schemes and manipulating regulations have driven the business economy of California down, according to Forbes.
But why Texas? Dale Buss, journalist for Forbes explains:
"Plano is closer to all of those places than Torrance is. And while there's still a significant divide between Toyota's engineering and manufacturing operations, and the sales and marketing folks, the changing nature of the auto business means they need to get closer all the time."
