Toyota’s Lentz Moseying On to Texas

DETROIT – The first batch of Toyota U.S. employees relocating to Texas are set to move in the next few months, headed by Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz.

“I move over Labor Day weekend,” Lentz tells WardsAuto Thursday on the sidelines of the 2014 Automotive Hall of Fall induction ceremony, where he received the Industry Leader of the Year award. “The office opens up Aug. 15, so probably (our first group will be) there by the beginning of October, middle of October.”

Lentz will be among an initial group of 50 moving this year to Plano, TX, site of Toyota’s new North American headquarters.

The automaker is shifting about 2,000 positions from its Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. operations currently located in Torrance, CA; 1,000 jobs from its Toyota Motor Engineering & Mfg. North America office in Erlanger, KY; a small, undetermined number of positions from its Toyota Motor North America administrative office in New York City; and 1,000 Toyota Financial Services jobs also based in Torrance.

While the majority of the positions will not be transferred to Texas until late 2016-early 2017, Lentz says he is pleased thus far with the number of staff who say they will move.

“There are many more people committed to going than I would’ve thought at the very beginning,” he says, inferring there are more employees than the 50 who have said they will make the move.

He classifies the first 50 employees moving from locations throughout the U.S. to Plano as “thrilled at being the pioneers to be able to go.”

Lentz says Toyota senior management was “nervous” in late April when the move was announced, but he has been surprised by the positive reaction among some employees who have visited Plano ahead of Toyota taking them there.

“We’re flying everybody down there with their spouse or friend to be able to check it out, and I can tell you I know of at least 50 or 60 people who have gone down even before that on their own, because they really want to know what it's all about. I don't know a single one of those people who said it's not for me,” Lentz says.

The next wave of job relocations won’t occur until 2016, which should number about 300-500 people, depending on how many decide to move to Plano, he says.

“So that's going to be the real time to see how excited people are.”

Lentz doesn’t say how many Toyota employees in Torrance, Erlanger or New York have said they aren’t moving to Texas but acknowledges “that’s happening as well.”

At a Lexus media event in Canada last month, a number of public relations and sales and marketing staff said they were on the fence, or not planning to leave California, mainly due to family commitments in the state.

Toyota this week announced it has selected KDC Real Estate Development & Investments of Dallas to develop its new headquarters campus in the Legacy West area of Plano.

Until the new headquarters is completed, Toyota staff will work out of existing buildings in the area.

Meanwhile, Lentz praises the auto industry “as the most resilient industry on the face of the earth” during his acceptance speech here, citing the recovery from the recession of 2008 and enduring and prospering during other events as well, such as the 2011 Japanese tsunami, the growth of social media and the introduction of electric vehicles.

Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame as the 75^th class were J.D. Power & Associates founder David Power, deceased Ford designer Alex Tremulis, Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech and automotive publisher Keith Crain.

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