Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX) is an automobile manufacturing factory in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

, Texas, United States. It is a subsidiary of

Toyota Motor North America Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) is the operating subsidiary that oversees all operations of the Toyota Motor Corporation in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Its operations include research and development, manufacturing, sales, market ...

, itself a subsidiary of

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

of Japan. The TMMTX assembly lines currently produce the

Tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

full-size

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

and the Sequoia full-size

sport utility vehicle A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...

History

In 2002, Toyota began scouting locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas for a new assembly plant to build the second generation Tundra pickup. After long deliberations including the offer of $227 million in subsidies, a site on the far south side of San Antonio was selected as the location for the new assembly plant. Toyota broke ground at the new plant site on 17 October 2003. During construction, the project evolved from a simple assembly plant into an automotive production site including several on-site suppliers which shipped directly to the factory. In addition, Toyota announced that production capacity, originally planned for 150,000 units per year, would be expanded to 200,000 units. This increase brought Toyota's investment in the plant to $1.2 billion. Following four years of construction, the first new Tundra pickups rolled off the line in November 2006 during a grand-opening celebration which drew executives, employees and dealers of Toyota from around the country. One Toyota executive went so far as to call the launch of the second-generation Tundra the 'single biggest and most important launch in Toyota's 50-year U.S. history.'

Production

Second-generation Tundra production was initially split between TMMTX in San Antonio and

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana (TMMI) is an automobile manufacturing factory located in Gibson County, Indiana, nearly halfway between Princeton and Fort Branch, and mostly in Union Township. It is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor North Ameri ...

near Princeton, Indiana (which had produced the first generation Tundra). The Base Cab (2 door) and Double Cab (2 full doors and 2 small doors) pickups were produced in San Antonio, with additional Double Cab Tundras and all CrewMax pickups produced in Princeton. The Tundra was initially hailed as a revolutionary step forward for Toyota Trucks, winning the

Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...

Truck of the Year award in 2008; however the vehicle's reputation was marred by a recall of 15,000 units due to a mistake made by a supplier of a rear propeller shaft. This initial problem aside, the 2007 model year Tundra was a success with sales in 2007 almost selling out annual production of 200,000 units. The surge in oil prices driven by the commodity boom in 2008 put significant pressure on sales of the truck, and Toyota sold just under 140,000 Tundras the following year. As the economic downturn put pressure on the US auto market, combined with the high fuel prices of the mid-2008, vehicle sales tumbled in late 2008 to the extent that Toyota shut down production at TMMTX for a three-month period to reduce inventory of the Tundra pickup. In late 2008, Toyota announced that all Tundra production would be moved to TMMTX (ending Tundra production in Princeton, Indiana). This announcement effectively preserved the jobs of the 1,850 workers at TMMTX that were threatened by the ongoing

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

. In September 2009, Toyota announced it would be terminating Corolla and Tacoma production at the NUMMI assembly plant, which had been operated as a joint venture with

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, who withdrew from the partnership as it entered bankruptcy. This change ultimately proved to benefit TMMTX, as Tacoma production relocated to San Antonio and Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California in Mexico. TMMTX added 1,000 workers to support the production of the Tacoma. Between 2020 and 2021, Toyota ended production of the Tacoma at TMMTX as production ramped up at its second Mexico plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Guanajuato. In 2022, TMMTX will begin building the

Toyota Sequoia The Toyota Sequoia is a full-size SUV manufactured by Toyota mainly for the North American market since 2000 for the 2001 model year and derived from the Tundra pickup truck. It is the largest SUV ever produced under the Toyota brand, after th ...

large SUV, which is built on the same frame as the Tundra.

Vehicles produced

Toyota Tundra The Toyota Tundra is a pickup truck manufactured in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since May 1999. The Tundra was the second full-size pickup to be built by a Japanese manufacturer (the first was the Toyota T100), but th ...

(2006–present) *

Toyota Tacoma The Toyota Tacoma is a pickup truck manufactured by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota since 1995. The first-generation Tacoma (model years 1995 through 2004) was classified as a compact pickup. The second generation (model years 2005 t ...

(2010–2021) *

(2022–present)

Footnotes

External links

Motor Trend report on TMMTX

International Herald Tribune report
{{San Antonio Toyota factories Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2003 Manufacturing companies based in San Antonio Motor vehicle assembly plants in Texas

History

Production

Vehicles produced

See also

Footnotes

External links