Toyota Decides to Close NUMMI Plant

In a move that marks Japanese automaker Toyota’s very first plant closure, either in Japan or abroad, the company has decided to shut down a Fremont, California plant known as NUMMI. Toyota once ran the plant as a joint venture with General Motors, but when GM had to pull out of the deal, Toyota decided that it could not afford to keep the plant open alone.
 
New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., which produces Toyota Corolla cars and Tacoma pickups, will shut down in March 2010. According to Toyota, which had previously vowed not to close down any of its plants, the move came as an act of desperation after an extended period of poor U.S. auto sales due to the economic crisis.
 
NUMMI’s shutdown marks the end of 5,400 jobs, to which Toyota paid $523 million in payroll and benefits. The situation comes at a time when California, a state already suffering from a variety of problems of its own, has had to deal with a staggering 11.9 percent unemployment rate.

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