Toyota has now completed a final expansion of its operation in the United States. It has just ended a $156 million process of improving its research and development engineering center in Michigan in preparation for gaining a larger hold on the market. This was the culmination of a three year plan to unify all of Toyota’s operations into one area to improve communication and have a more central location; Michigan is also an ideal point for this plant as there is a huge historic concentration of other manufacturers and innovators to benefit from. Toyota headquarters is also moving away from California and relocating to Texas, yet another shift towards the center of the nation.
Toyota claims that it wishes to conduct production, sales, and research completely on a domestic front to improve its ability to provide parts and service, as well as gain a better understanding of the current market. They will then be able to tailor their sales and research towards current market preferences specifically in the United States. Toyota is also interested in hiring a large number of new people in Michigan, and says that they want to continue growing their operations here. It will be interesting to watch the company in the near future, as the current climate has seen a decline in the sales of automobiles. Perhaps Toyota will be able to buck the trend and increase their overall sales, as well as gain a larger percentage of the American market, be it in their sedans or their trucks, or perhaps even electric vehicles. Research and development will allow Toyota to gain a keen insight into the patterns of demand to improve their chances of promoting growth.
It seems that Toyota is following a common trend in the industry which involves slimming down their current holdings and relocating their focus to the automotive corridor of America in order to maximize their efficiency in sales, service, and marketing. This sliming down seems to be working and if done right could actually allow Toyota to actually keep their sales up if they do it right.
This intrigues me because the new corporate offices are close to my neighborhood. However, I don’t understand the need to move to the center of the US. Is this just to limit travel times for people? Because that would seem to make more sense for manufacturing centers.