Toyota sets up a new technical center in Michigan

Toyota Motor Corp. launched a new, $187 million technical center near Ann Arbor, Michigan on Thursday.

The center, set up for designing and engineering vehicles for North America, is located about 700 acres south of Ann Arbor and stretches over a 5,30,000-square-foot area of land. This huge complex, built on the site of a former state mental hospital also has a safety testing center for crash tests.

The auto industry of Michigan state has suffered a lot in the recent past. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC who had been the prime companies for employment in the Southeast region lost billions of dollars and shed thousands of their workers. Toyota posted a 32% drop in U.S. sales in September as monthly sales ndustrywie fell below 1 million for the first time in 15 years. However, with this new venture, the company brings employment to around 400 people in and around the area of Ann Arbor, a victim of auto industry layoffs.

Jennifer Granholm, a state government official said, "It's all going to happen right here in Michigan, and that's what this tech center represents."

The new techncal center supplements Toyota's exisiting technical center near Detroit. The company now employs about a total of 1,000 workers at both complexes. and expects to add another 100 jobs by 2010, with the potential for hundreds more in the future.

Bruce Brownlee, senior executive administrator at the technical center, said, "The expansion is a sign of Toyota's commitment to Michigan and North America."

The state went through several contortions before establishing the center. One major issue amongst them was the tax breaks from state and local governments worth $38.9 million over the next 20 years. However, the state is expected to have a net tax gain of $60 million over the next two decades from the center.

Granholm said, "The expansion is an important piece of the state's plan to diversify its economy, which has added high-tech jobs after losing more than 315,000 manufacturing positions since mid-2000."

Another point that took its toll against the establishment of the center was that the state, under an act of Legislature 2004, had to sell the land to Toyota for $11 million. It also had to fend off a lawsuit from a developer who outbid Toyota by $16 million for the land at the height of the area's housing boom.

Nenetheless, Granholm seemed quite optimistic with her views about the center and said, "Our reputation as the automotive capital of the world brought Toyota here, and we will continue to attract R&D and advanced manufacturing jobs because of our global leadership in automotive research and development."