Word: plante
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
George Taylor fought the Empire of Japan as a U.S. Marine in World War II, and he still has bitter memories. But now as mayor of Princeton, Indiana (pop. 8,100), he gladly put them aside last spring when Toyota unveiled plans to build a $700 million pickup- truck plant in his economically sagging town. "I've changed my mind a little bit," Taylor, 74, says. "The way I look at it, the Japanese are coming over here and giving American workers good jobs, while American companies are closing factories and taking work overseas for low wages." In a sign...
...starters, Toyota is adding a new line of minivans to its $3.4 billion plant in Georgetown, where Camrys and Avalons are now produced, and tripling the output of its St. Louis-based Bodine Aluminum subsidiary, which makes engine components. Next will come a new $400 million engine plant in Buffalo, West Virginia, and the T100 pickup plant in Princeton. Toyota is expanding other facilities, like its Corolla factory in Cambridge, Ontario. There's a $310 million technical center abuilding in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Toyota recently opened the world's largest proving ground, a 12,000-acre property outside Phoenix, Arizona...
...swift U.S. buildup by Toyota and rivals like Honda has revitalized whole communities. A University of Kentucky study credits Toyota's Georgetown presence with creating 22,000 jobs in the state (the plant itself employs 6,500) and adding $1.5 billion to the state's economy during its eight years in operation. Soaring property-tax rolls have enabled Georgetown to build new police and fire stations and community-care facilities. In Princeton property values are taking...
Hopes for similar surges, along with jobs and rising income, drew throngs of townspeople and the high school band in Buffalo two weeks ago to groundbreaking ceremonies for Toyota's West Virginia engine plant. Local schoolchildren sang a haiku ("Cherry Blossoms born of spring, let's go see, let's go see") as dignitaries planted 10 Japanese maples to symbolize Toyota's new U.S. roots. For Senator Jay Rockefeller, landing Toyota marked the capstone of a 20-year crusade to boost the economy of one of the country's poorest states. Thanks to Toyota, Rockefeller says, Buffalo...
...long that takes, Toyota has already created a corn-fed hybrid of East and West along the I-64 corridor. About half of Toyota's top 100 executives in the U.S. are American. And there are about 50 Japanese in the 6,500 person work force at the Georgetown plant. At the Tachibana sushi bar in nearby Lexington, Kentucky, manager Takashi Iwata serves raw fish to Japanese diners as well as to locals raised on burgers and barbecued ribs. "I am happiest when I have customers in cowboy shirts using chopsticks," Iwata says. "But to tell you the truth...