A rendering of Toyota’s new North American headquarters in Plano, Texas
In a little over a year, Toyota will begin to make the move from its current North American headquarters in Torrance, California, to its new location in Plano, Texas. And, according to CEO Jim Lentz, approximately 75% of the automaker’s 4,000 employees are seriously considering making the move to the automaker’s new home.
These numbers are by no means set in stone; rather they come from the results of a recent survey of Toyota employees in California, Kentucky, and New York. The Plano campus is currently under construction, and Toyota plans to have it ready to begin operations in April 2017. Current employees still have a while to make a final decision, but it sounds like the majority are leaning towards making Texas their new home.
“We had a planning number of around 60 percent, so if this holds up, it could mean we would have 3,000 people moving here and another 1,000 new jobs to be filled,” Lentz told The Dallas Morning News from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Toyota has asked all 4,000 of its employees to relocate, but understands that many will choose to stay where they are in order to remain close to family and friends.
The new Plano campus is around 2 million square feet and will cost the automaker upwards of $350 million. Construction is expected to be completed in February 2017, giving Toyota enough time to finalize any last-minute details before moving its workforce in.
News Source: The Dallas Morning News
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