DShiekhi

Toyota NA CEO Jim Lentz Discusses "Toyota in Texas"



Yesterday, I attended the "Toyota in Texas" luncheon at the Austin Economic Club in downtown Austin.

Read the rest on the ClubLexus.com homepage. >>

TEXASMAJOR

iTrader: (2)

Liberal states like New York and California place chokeholds on the businesses with their outrageous policies.

These moves by Toyota don't surprise me.

Why wouldn't you want to move to the greatest state in the union anyway?

rxonmymind

Baaah! Texas schmecus. I'll take Sacramento any day. 1.5 hours to either skiing or the ocean baby! Also the FOOOOOOD. man, if your a foodie THIS is the location to be. Bar none nowhere else in the US. Napa, San Francisco, Davis, Sacramento farm to fork and many other places. You sir enjoy Texas. Taking off to the beach here in oh by 8. Wake up to the surf tomorrow.

mmarshall

Well, Austin is only couple of hours from the ocean itself. And the Texas Hill Country, which is right on the western border of Austin and I-35, is an interesting and picturesque place.....with a lot of nice two-lane driving roads. Austin also has its share of good food, live music, and diversity. It has a reputation for not being like much of the rest of Texas culturally.

Components for Toyota trucks, BTW, are built in a plant only a hour or two SW of Austin, in San Antonio.

TEXASMAJOR

iTrader: (2)

Lol. Whatever helps you sleep better at night.

Texas is Gods country.

mmarshall

I lived in Austin for a little while, some time ago, and have a lot of respect for the city and the picturesque Hill Country just off to the west. But, as far as God's country goes, I think that the Virginia mountains and Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway will give it some competition.

The sharp, jagged Chisos Mountains, in Texas's Big Bend (National Park) are impressive to look at, but it is an extremely remote place to reach, gets hotter than hell in the summertime, and has mountain lions (cougars) roaming around.

rxonmymind

My time in Texas was brief but filled with good memories. Went through basic training there in the AF and what a welcome at 3 am. Never seen a group of uglier people so grouchy in the morning. Lol. The river walk was my favorite. Although I would have liked to try some of that Texas legendary BBQ I keep hearing about. A break from all this fancy cuisine would be nice.

Gods country? I'll buy that. God bless America.

smualum11

This is an interesting addition, for sure. To clarify, Toyota is building in one of the northern suburbs of the DFW area. Plano to be exact. Arguably some of the strongest schools in the area in Plano as well, not to mention you're a good maybe.. 30-40 minute drive to the airport from their location. But yeah, not much in the nature scene in the area unless you go out an hour or two minimum. You are a good 5 hours or so from the nearest beach/ocean.

DFW area is actually a pretty decent location for foodies too. We have a surprisingly strong restaurant scene, at least the closer you go to Dallas proper.

I live in the Plano area, right down the road from the new HQ. It will be interesting to see how things develop. They are even going to build a test track out there, so that will be fun to drive by.

Only real negative of this move, although everyone I speak to is very excited about it, is I'm currently enjoying 10% property tax increases each year due to the demand from all of these people moving, but on the flip side, I'm gaining some extreme equity in my home too. It's not just Toyota finding a new home here. I am glad we bought last year, although when we attended open houses - we would get asked pretty routinely if we worked for Toyota and we saw a few Toyota groups when we looked at a couple of new developments in the far northern 'burbs.

Hope they all enjoy Texas as much as I do.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I agree with this!

lexusfan05

I live in Plano and I am not sure if this affordability aspect will be there when the rest of the Toyota people will move in 2017. Nationwide Insurance is moving across the street from Toyota and moving 5000 people and Fedex Office is moving 1200 more. There has been a steady influx of people to the DFW area in general. Sure it's still cheaper than CA or NY but it's already much less affordable than what it used to be 2-3 years ago.