Toyota update Friday, September 20, 2002 News on the Toyota plant is heating up. Here's a summary. The company wants 1,000 acres of relatively flat land with access to rail and major highways. The stakes are high. According to Tennessee's economic models, 2,500 jobs are created for every 1,000 auto assembly jobs. Toyota President Fujio Cho told reporters at an analysts conference in New York earlier this month that adding a fifth North American assembly plant would make sense once the company's sales rise above 2 million a year. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. sold 1.7 million cars and trucks under the Toyota and Lexus brands last year. Through August, sales were 4.1% higher than last year. A Toyota spokesman in Kentucky says that no ecision has been made to add a plant. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Hiroshi Okuda said last week, "One more plant is small talk, there will be more plants than one." But, as industry analysts have noted, company chairmen and presidents don't start talking in public about major production initiatives unless they have already made a decision to move ahead. Economic developers believe that Toyota has a short list that includes 3 sites near Memphis and one in Northen Alabama. The sites are in Jackson, Tenn.; Fackler, Ala.; Como, Miss.; and West Memphis, Ark. Politicians in Texas also believe they're in the hunt with a site near San Antonio in Bexar County. According to Automotive News, Toyota's site team is also looking at sites in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The competition is intense. Alabama officials have shown in the past they can make sites more attractive by piling on tax abatements, free land, worker training and other incentives. Alabama officials can point to Hyundai building a $1 billion plant in Montgomery, Honda undertaking a $425 million expansion in Lincoln and Mercedes in the midst of a $600 million expansion in Vance. Toyota chose Huntsville for a $220 million V-8 engine plant now under construction. Tennessee has its own automotive success stories, with Nissan and Saturn producing vehicles there. Mississippi beat Alabama to win a $930 million Nissan plant nearing completion near Jackson. One thing is certain. The competition will also be expensive. The cost per job to lure automakers to the South has risen dramatically over the past few years. In 1999, Alabama offered Honda about $68,000 per job for a 1,500-person van plant. In 2000, Mississippi paid Nissan about $74,000 per job for the first 4,000 jobs at the plant under construction near Canton. Earlier this year, Alabama offered South Korean automaker Hyundai $117,500 per job for a 2,000-job plant. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

The Web EDPro Weblog