Toyota Closing Nummi In March; Tacoma to Texas
By Bill Visnic August 27, 2009Toyota Motor Corp. announced late Thursday it will end its production contract at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. assembly plant in Fremont, CA, next March, shifting assembly of NUMMI-manufactured Tacoma midsize pickups to Toyota's recently built plant in San Antonio, TX.
The NUMMI facility was a joint-venture operation between Toyota and the General Motors Co., but in June, just prior to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, GM said it was vacating the NUMMI operation and leaving its ownership in the venture with the "old" GM.
GM did not see a future for NUMMI and shortly thereafter Toyota also began to send signals it, too, might abandon the venture that began in 1984. GM ended production of the Pontiac Vibe (a badged variant of the Toyota Matrix) on Aug. 17.
Toyota was to announce Thursday evening it will shut down at NUMMI in March, with NUMMI's Tacoma production moving to Toyota's underutilized San Antonio Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) plant that currently builds the Tundra fullsize pickup. Like all manufacturers of fullsize pickups, Toyota has been hurt by drastically declining pickup demand.
TMC executive vice president Atsushi Niimi said, "After the decision by General Motors to withdraw from the NUMMI joint venture, Toyota conducted a thorough review of its alternatives in light of current and anticipated market conditions. Based on this review, we have determined that over the mid- to long-term, it just would not be economically viable to continue the production contract with NUMMI. This is most unfortunate, and we deeply regret having to take this action."
Toyota also produces the Corolla at NUMMI, and the company indicated that capacity will shift to the company's Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. plant in Cambridge, Ont., Canada.
California's NUMMI loss will be Texas' gain: prior to Toyota's official announcement, San Antonio media reported the shift of Tacoma production to the TMMTX plant there could mean as many as 4,700 additional jobs. There was no word about potential job additons at Toyota's Canadian assembly plant. - Bill Visnic
Toyota Tacoma photo courtesy Toyota Motor Corp.
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