Toyota Sees Future in Michigan

Washington DC March 15, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America Inc., said that Michigan will continue to play a central role in the transformation that is taking place in the global automotive industry.

He said the industry is in the midst of a technological shift as automakers, governments, and private citizens work to reduce the impact of the automobile on the environment and reduce this nation's dependency on foreign oil.

"The intellectual energy for this transition in technology -- this new era of automobiles -- is really here," Press told the Detroit News. "It's here in Michigan."

Toyota is investing heavily in its new research-and-development center in York Township. The sprawling campus now under construction south of Ann Arbor will augment Toyota's existing technical center in that city and more than double the company's employment.

Officially, the $187 million complex will employ about 1,200 workers -- most of them high-paid engineers. Press suggested that number could grow over time.