Toyota Announces New North American Headquarters

(RTTNews) - Japanese automaker Toyota (TM) said Monday it is establishing a new headquarters in North Dallas (Plano), Texas for its North American operations in a bid to serve its customers better and also position it for long-term growth.

In three years, Toyota's separate North American headquarters for manufacturing, sales and marketing, and corporate operations will relocate to a single campus in Plano, the automaker said. Its North American finance arm also plans to move its headquarters to the new campus. These moves will affect about 4,000 employees.

Toyota will also expand the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) in Michigan to accommodate the relocation of direct procurement from Erlanger, Ky., to its campus in York Township near Ann Arbor. This expansion is part of an increased investment in engineering capabilities and will accommodate future growth in product development.

The transition to Plano from three current headquarters locations - affecting about 2,000 employees at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc in Torrance, Calif.; about 1,000 employees at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc in Erlanger, Ky.; and certain employees at Toyota Motor North America in New York, N.Y. - will begin with initial small groups this summer. However, the majority of these employees will not move until construction of Toyota's new headquarters is completed in late 2016 or early 2017.

Toyota Financial Services is not expected to transition to Plano from its current headquarters in Torrance, Calif., until 2017, which will affect around 1,000 employees.

Toyota's 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S. will not be impacted by these changes, as also a range of Toyota units.

After moving from its existing headquarters, Toyota will continue to have about 2,300 employees in California and 8,200 employees in Kentucky. Toyota will also continue to maintain offices in the New York City area and Washington, DC.