Toyota Opens New International Headquarters In Dallas Area

Toyota's New International HQ In Plano, Texas

Nagoya based Toyota Motor Company opened a roughly $1 billion North American headquarters Thursday in Texas. The Dallas suburb of Plano was chosen for its technology based business sector.  Toyota joins Mitstubishi  as Japanese auto giants choosing the Dallas area. Toyota is bringing far-flung international operations such as sales, manufacturing, finance and corporate administration under one roof.

The Japanese automaker's new base in Plano sits in the central U.S., near much of the company's local manufacturing operations. The headquarters will house 4,000 employees by the end of the year, including 1,000 new hires. Toyota has operated in North America for 60 years, and the continent's sales have grown to account for 30% of the automaker's total.

Toyota previously held four subsidiaries spread across the U.S. to handle its main business operations. The company entered the region in 1957, establishing a sales subsidiary in California to handle imports of the Toyota Crown. As sales expanded, Toyota formed a California unit for finance, a New York subsidiary for corporate operations across North America and a Kentucky business for manufacturing as well as research and development.

This organization became unwieldy and hindered swift decision-making as Toyota's North American sales grew past 2.6 million units and the auto industry transformed amid stronger environmental regulations and new technologies such as artificial intelligence. The automaker announced the "One Toyota" initiative in 2014 to consolidate operations.

The new, integrated headquarters in Texas will ease information sharing and help the company lead the way to the future "mobility society" with swift, innovative decision-making, said Jim Lentz, Toyota Motor North America CEO.

The Plano campus contains seven buildings spread over 400,000 sq. meters and comes equipped with more than 20,000 solar panels.

"This is a headquarters designed with an eye toward 50 years into the future," a Toyota executive said. "Located close to our manufacturing bases, it will collect information and help boost the long-term competitiveness of our North American operations."