Gov. Perry: Toyota Creates Jobs for Texans and Bolsters the Local Economy

Gov. Rick Perry today credited the strong relationship between Texas and Toyota for creating jobs for Texans and strengthening San Antonio's economy. The governor spoke at a ceremony celebrating the launch of the Toyota Tacoma, now being built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX) in San Antonio.

"For almost four years now, pickup trucks have been rolling off the Toyota assembly line here in San Antonio, creating jobs for Texans and bolstering the local economy," Gov. Perry said. "The partnership between Texas and Toyota has been extremely valuable, and I am confident it will continue to yield great benefits for us all in the years to come."

Toyota currently has $1.4 billion invested in its San Antonio plant, which employs more than 2,800 Texans, including 1,000 newly hired with the addition of the Tacoma line. Established in 2003, TMMTX already manufactures the Tundra full-size pickup.

The Texas economy continues to receive national attention. Last month, CNBC named Texas America's Top State for Business. Texas was also recently named the "Best State to Do Business" by CEO Magazine for the sixth year in a row, and six of Texas' metro areas were listed as "America's Recovery Capitals" by Forbes and Moody's Economy.

No other state is home to more Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, and Texas is the nation's leading exporting state for the eighth consecutive year. Texas created more private sector jobs than any other state in the nation over the last 10 years. Additionally, Texas' unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in June, well below the national average.

For more information about TMMTX please visit http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/engineering_and_manufacturing/tmmtx/.