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Old Jun 18, 2006 | 07:47 PM
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Default Possible New Toyota Factory in Tennessee?

Tennessee is on a "relatively short list" of sites in different U.S. states where Toyota Motor Corp. is looking to build an eighth North American vehicle assembly plant, Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a newspaper interview.

Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker confirmed Sunday that the governor told The Wall Street Journal that Toyota was considering two sites in Tennessee.

One is close to Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee, and the other is near Alamo in western Tennessee, about 80 miles northeast of Memphis along Interstate 40.

Toyota has said publicly it is scouting a site to build another North American plant, but has not disclosed specifics about its search.

Bredesen has acknowledged in the past that the state was trying to convince Toyota to build its plant in Tennessee.

Toyota will open a truck plant in San Antonio this year and a plant in Woodstock, Ontario, in 2007. The company also is scouting sites for an engine plant.

He has said he's optimistic about landing a Toyota plant because of the state's success in getting companies such as Nissan Motor Co. and International Paper Co. to relocate their headquarters to Tennessee.

"I think we're well positioned. We're seen as a good place for automotive assembly plants to operate," he told The Associated Press in April. "Certainly the experience of the Nissan plant here has been stellar, and I think that's very much seen by the Toyotas of the world and others."

Nissan announced last year that it planned to move its North American headquarters in California to the Nashville area. The company began moving to temporary offices in downtown Nashville last week and plans to complete the relocation by the end of July.

Bredesen said he's not sure when Toyota will make a decision, but believes one of the two sites he is offering has a good chance.

"I'm aware that they are interested in building a plant, and I am aware we are on a relatively short list of places," he told the newspaper for a story Sunday on its Web site. "We're working and being aggressive."

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2006/...ap2822821.html
Old Jun 19, 2006 | 05:36 PM
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I hope it gets built here in Western Tn. I also hope it is a Scion plant.
Old Jun 19, 2006 | 05:44 PM
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the Chattanooga site is 5 minutes from my house so I can't wait for it to get built and increase my property value. It would be in the old TNT factory that mde most of the explosives for WWII. It's now called Enterprise South.

Plus I work for a Toyota store and this would be great publicity.

PLEASE PLEASE TOYOTA- CHATTANOOGA!!
Old Jun 19, 2006 | 05:50 PM
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Ther terrain is more suited for an auto plant over here. I really hope they choose Alamo! Sorry Jumbo. LOL
Old Jun 19, 2006 | 08:25 PM
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It might depend on what they plan on building there. The site here in Chattanooga is specifically designed for manufacturing.

For example, if they are building engines for the Camry plant in KY, it might be easier for them to hit 75 North right out of Chattanooga.

Of course, this is ALL wishful thinking till Toyota says yes.

LATER
Old Jun 20, 2006 | 01:45 PM
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Hope it works out better for Toyota than Nissan's move to Nashville.
Old Jun 20, 2006 | 03:50 PM
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I thought Nissan was doing pretty good in Nashville....

Would the Memphis location be better due to it being close to the waterways? There is a lot of vacant property along I-40....
Old Jun 20, 2006 | 04:26 PM
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When Nissan moved their North American HQ from SoCal to Nashville, huge amounts of people took buyouts and refused to move to Nashville.

The actual manufacturing plant has improved some (far better than the one in Mississippi) but it is still not quite up to where the Honda and Toyota US plants are.
Old Jun 20, 2006 | 04:30 PM
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Ahhhhhh, that is kinda what I was thinking... we have tooling in both Smyrna and Po-dump MS Nissan plants...

I'd love to see the quality of the TN cars improve, my wife wants an Altima.
Old Jun 22, 2006 | 12:59 AM
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If they came to Chattown I would be surprised. I grew up in Chattanooga and have seen about 3 auto manufactures scared off for what ever reason. Some say that it is the crap education system, others say that it is political. However it would be nice to see a manufacturing plant since most of the big plants and foundries have shut down or moved. It would be good for the job market as well as an increase in the economy.
Old Jun 22, 2006 | 01:34 AM
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If they came to Chattown I would be surprised. I grew up in Chattanooga and have seen about 3 auto manufactures scared off for what ever reason. Some say that it is the crap education system, others say that it is political. However it would be nice to see a manufacturing plant since most of the big plants and foundries have shut down or moved. It would be good for the job market as well as an increase in the economy.
Old Jun 22, 2006 | 04:35 AM
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Unfortunately, Chattanooga does have some political crap that prevents good things from happening.

But, to our credit, our owner has personally known the last 5 presidents of Toyota, and was even taken to visit 3 US Presidents with the sitting Toyota President. He may have enough influence to make something happen.
Old Jun 22, 2006 | 12:18 PM
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That would be good. Hopefully it will work out this time. Like I said Chattanooga could really use the jobs!

Hey Toyota
Old Jun 22, 2006 | 12:30 PM
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If we can't get it, then I sure hope yall do!
Old Jun 23, 2006 | 01:05 AM
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I for one hope they get a factory in there. Whether it be an auto factory or otherwise, they need something to justify that nifty little offramp to nowhere that they have going on about mile marker 8-9.

Politics and everything aside, Chattanooga is a great location for a company to expand in. It has this amazing revitalized energy about it the last decade that I think will overcome any older political issues in the long run.
Old Jun 23, 2006 | 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by JUMBO
the Chattanooga site is 5 minutes from my house so I can't wait for it to get built and increase my property value. It would be in the old TNT factory that mde most of the explosives for WWII. It's now called Enterprise South.

Plus I work for a Toyota store and this would be great publicity.

PLEASE PLEASE TOYOTA- CHATTANOOGA!!
If they do pick that site I know for a fact that the plant would not be in the old factory. It would get bulldozed and a nice new modern and economical building would be put up.
Old Jun 23, 2006 | 12:34 PM
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I'd lean towards Chatt... our east TN salesman could use some new customers......
The factory itself isn't the best part... it's all the tier 1 & 2 suppliers that come with the deal! If you are wanting a job, go to the suppliers, the assembly plants are the worst to work for!
Down here, Mercedes gives HUGE bonuses to people that go 3 months without missing a day or being late.... the reason they are so big??? They don't have to pay out many...Turn over at the plants is crazy....
Old Jun 24, 2006 | 09:33 AM
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Yeah, but thats Mercedes, not Toyota. I work at a Toyota Assymbly plant. TMMI and turnover is almost nonexistent. Ask someone from TMMK they have ppl there that have been on nights for 15 years because turnover is so slow they cant get an opening for days. They pay great, the benefits are good and have decent bonuses. At TMMI the average team member makes about 75k. not bad for an assymbly job.
Old Jun 27, 2006 | 04:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Velheru
If they do pick that site I know for a fact that the plant would not be in the old factory. It would get bulldozed and a nice new modern and economical building would be put up.
Oh, I'm sure that they would build a new building, but the site (as in the land and whatnot) is what I'm talking about.
Old Jun 28, 2006 | 12:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Velheru
Yeah, but thats Mercedes, not Toyota. I work at a Toyota Assymbly plant. TMMI and turnover is almost nonexistent. Ask someone from TMMK they have ppl there that have been on nights for 15 years because turnover is so slow they cant get an opening for days. They pay great, the benefits are good and have decent bonuses. At TMMI the average team member makes about 75k. not bad for an assymbly job.
Well, I sure stand corrected!!! I was under the assumption that it pretty much all worked out the same..

Merc, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan in TN all have revolving doors down here....it might be the quality/dedication of the work force......naaaaaahhhhh



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