Toyota Motor departure from region to leave deep economic impact

In a major blow to the economy of Northern Kentucky, Toyota Motor Corp. announced Monday that it is closing its manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger, moving 1,600 jobs out of the complex to Plano, Texas; Michigan; and the Georgetown, Ky., plant.

Three hundred engineering jobs were salvaged for Kentucky and will move to the Georgetown plant. Also, 1,000 jobs are headed to Texas and 250 are going to operations in York Twp. near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The move is part of a larger consolidation of North American operations into the new Plano site, which will be constructed in the next three years. Torrance, Calif. will lose 2,000 employees and a small group will leave New York.

“Obviously, we are extremely disappointed by Toyota’s decision. We would have welcomed the opportunity to discuss options with Toyota, but we will now turn our attention to preparing for this transition,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a written statement.

“We also are disappointed that the lives of hundreds of Kentuckians will be disrupted, and we pledge to assist those families however we possibly can. This transition will take two to three years to achieve, and Toyota has assured us that the company plans to offer industry-leading programs and packages to its people,” he said.

With 300 jobs moving from Erlanger to Georgetown and 750 new jobs being added to support production of the Lexus ES 350, there will be 8,200 Toyota employees in Kentucky after the move, the governor’s office said.

Journal-News partner WCPO has analyzed the economic impact of Toyota's decision. Read more about it here.

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