Lovefest for Toyota and the city of Plano

PLANO, Texas, Oct. 29, 2014 -- "I haven't seen such a mutual admiration society in more than a decade," said Linda Water Nelson, editor of INSIDEout: Cars & Trucks, and sport vehicle editor for Texas Fish & Game magazine, describing the Hello Texas! event held to celebrate Toyota's commitment to a new North American corporate headquarters, and thousands of new Texas jobs.

Announced almost a year ago, the facility which will be relocating from Southern California, brings with it thousands of jobs, along with the kind of relationship that the company enjoys in North San Antonio where it located the Tundra/Tacoma truck plant more than ten years ago.

"The Toyota plant has had a huge impact in the North San Antonio area. About 60% of its employees and those of its on-site suppliers live within 15 minutes of the operation, and this was an area that had been underserved by business while other San Antonio areas were thriving," she explains, also noting that minority sourcing has been a major focus.

Plano, in strong contrast to North San Antonio, has a relatively high standard of living with a predominantly white-collar population that will provide a good pool for the Toyota and Toyota Financial Services components which will be housed there.

Participating in the event were big brass from Toyota, the Plano city government and the State of Texas. "I've never seen Rick Perry so relaxed," Water Nelson said. "Wearing a blue and white checked shirt and Toyota red tie, he touched upon how he had been involved at the beginning of his governorship in negotiations for the San Antonio plant and now, at the end, in everything related to the Plano corporate headquarters."

Speakers also included Toyota N.A. CEO, Jim Lentz, who has already relocated his family from California to Texas, and Plano Mayor, Harry LaRosiliere, who took delivery of a gift from Toyota – seven Tundra Pickups in red, white and blue – which will assure that the company's product will be visible everywhere.

"There is no smarter gift than your own product when it comes to a program like this," Water Nelson added. "If these are the actual trucks, they had plenty of graphics to assure that everyone knows they were built in Texas. This is truck country and no one else can say that their trucks are born here. The closest anyone can come is GM, with its full size SUVs built at its Arlington, TX, plant."

An even bigger gift to Plano was a $1,000.000 donation to the city's Academy High School, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Nastia Liukin, Olympic gold medalist, played foil to Toyota CEO Lentz in announcing the gift, which Toyota says brings their non-profit gifts to Texas up to $15-million.

While the morning activities were for the media and hundreds of dignitaries, the Hello Texas! 8-hour block party was an open invitation for area residents to enjoy free food and beverages from a diverse group of local restaurants while they listened to music and toured the range of Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

"With this event and their extended commitment to Texas, it looks like Toyota understands that Texans closely watch where their enterprise fund dollars are spent; and that there is an expectation of economic growth that far exceeds the incentives for bringing new corporate entities to the state," she added.

Toyota places their plus-side impact on the Texas economy at $4.4-billion to date.