Toyota's move to Texas is about more than corporate welfare

[pstokely]

http://www.stltoday.com/business/national-and-international/toyota-s-move-to-texas-is-about-more-than-money/article_a5505464-9938-5b59-88c3-2cc48b6e50cd.html

"Wheaton says Toyota has been stymied by mundane designs and lackluster marketing for at least a decade. Since many workers won't relocate, the company will get an influx of talent and new thinking.

"I think it's saying 'OK, we need a fresh start. Let's have some new ideas,'" he says.

When Nissan changed its U.S. headquarters from California to Nashville in 2008, 68 percent of the workers refused to move. Toyota knows that number, Wheaton says, and figures on getting new engineering, marketing and other talent from Texas universities and its tech and aerospace industries.

Nissan changed after the move. Its top-selling car, the midsize Altima, got a bold design and crisper handling, and is "one of the vehicles that is eating Toyota's lunch," Wheaton says. The Altima's share of the midsize car market rose by 0.5 percentage point to 8.9 percent, according to AutoData, while the Camry's remained flat at 11.3 percent."

they think a Texas Tech grad has as much talent as a UCLA grad? some of the best talent may want to be in the place where the cost of living is high and busineses or overregulated and overtaxed, Toyota will get what they pay for, they've been losing market share to Hyundai/KIA who just built a new HQ in OC, if they aren't innovative now, they may be even less innovative in TX although a styling studio is staying OC, could Toyota go down the path of the Ford, GM, or Chrysler with crappy products that just now starting to get away from?

[Niceguy1]

1. if such a move worked in the past

It may work again, who knows? At least they stayed in the us.

[pstokely]

2. Toyota is a Japanese transnational corporation

nt

[Recursion]

4. I don't care which nation's 1% profits from a company, personally

If they hire workers in the US, they could be from China for all I care.

[Recursion]

3. This gets to the point that Toyota isn't the 900 pound gorilla it used to be

Between Ford and Nissan, their sales in the US are being eaten away pretty steadily (and Ford is absolutely eating their lunch in India, oddly enough...

[djean111]

5. So, it is the workers' fault that Toyota is moving.

[AnalystInParadise]

6. Ironic you keep mentioning Texas Tech

It is much further away from Dallas than UT and TAMU and is not considered one of the premier schools in Texas. And I would say that both UT and TAMU grads could compete with UCLA wouldn't you? UT and UCLA have less than 75 points that separate them on SAT scores and UT and UCLA are both highly ranked universities......And if you really want to get into it, both Baylor and Rice University are also in the mix with Rice having SAT scores far ahead of UCLA. Now I know you can find a Cali school better than Rice, I am sure of it. But I am willing to say that a UT grad is a likely equal to a UCLA grad. Agree or disagree?

[FarCenter]

7. Texas again leads nation in state-to-state movers

Texas led the nation in domestic movers last year, recording a net gain of 113,528 residents, according to numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Florida was No. 2 in movers from state to state, adding 91,484 residents while No. 3 North Carolina added 37,240 and No. 4 Colorado picked up 36,284.

“This decade-long pattern of domestic migration continues to be a very strong part of Texas growth; it’s not really slowing down,” said Steve Murdock, a Rice University professor and former Texas state demographer and director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

During the July 2012 to July 2013 period, outbound moving vans were lining up in New York which had a net domestic loss of 104,470 residents. Other states with big mover deficits were Illinois (-67,313), California (-49,259) and New Jersey (-45,035).

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/23/5509419/texas-again-leads-nation-in-state.html

Graduates from Midwestern and Eastern universities also head to Texas for work.

[Johonny]

8. Well thank God all those old people are being forced out says someone with no empathy for workers.

On the DU people liked the Prius for the most part but dislike that Toyota has tried hard to avoid unions... This move is on the side of why people dislike companies like Toyota that show such disdain for their own work force.

Just think all those future Texas employees will get to enjoy getting dumped when some future executive thinks they're too old too. Most of these companies hire people from UCLA or Texas AM. They're more than happy to relocate people. I'm sure Toyota isn't about to radically change what college graduate they might hire.

[betterdemsonly]

9. This article is just right wing California boosting

where by the person blames regulations and taxes, claims California needs to be more like Texas in those areas, then claims California graduates are naturally superior Texans. Doesn't pay attention to plight of workers in low regulation and low tax environments at all. Just tries to game California as licking rich people butt better than Texas, when buttlicking is actually the problem in both states.

[Blue_Tires]

10. I don't even know where to begin...

Is that writer seriously trying to make the claim that Nissan moving to fuckin' Nashville is the reason the Altima got better?

Does that writer have ANY idea how automakers operate??