Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its North American research and development operations as it opened an expanded TMNA R&D Purchasing and Prototype Development centers in York Township, Michigan. The $154 million investment moved direct procurement and supplier engineering development talent from Erlanger, Kentucky, and vehicle development and powertrain from California.
Toyota also used the announcement as an opportunity to present the newest executive leader to the TMNA R&D, Shinichi Yasui. Yasui, who arrived in April, serves as Toyota engineering and manufacturing president, executive vice president of TMNA R&D and managing officer of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC). His previous position at TMC was executive general manager of Mid-Size Vehicle Company.
Toyota also said it provided $200,000 in grants to several organizations in Washtenaw County: Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels, Growing Hope, Ypsilanti Consolidated School District and Dixboro Road Shared Use Trail. The Dixboro Road Shared Use Trail is a hiking and biking trail that will connect Parker Mill County Park and the Border-to-Border Trail with Matthaei Botanical Gardens. TMNA R&D also gave a Toyota Tundra truck to York Township.
Clearly in the gun sights of nit-twit Trump, Toyota claims to have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America. It currently runs 14 manufacturing plants – 10 in the U.S., but with Mexico and Canada left out of the exact count. It directly employs more than 46,000 people – more than 36,000 in the U.S. It has 1,800 North American dealerships – ~1,500 in the U.S. – sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks, 2.45 million in the U.S. in 2016. ( What Auto Companies are at Risk Under Trump? or Trump versus Auto Industry – Outcome Could be Ugly)
