Toyota just announced that Kenji Fukuta will be replacing Hidehiko “TJ” Tajima as president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX) come May 1, 2007. Despite the misleading headline, Toyota does not have the authorization to name a new Texas president. In fact, we’re not sure who does.
Tajima, the current TMMTX president, is going back to Japan to take up his new position as General Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Affairs Division Japan, at Toyota Motor Corporation. Since October 2003, Tajima has been president of TMMTX, where he orchestrated the building of Toyota’s sixth plant in North America. That’s the plant that has been responsible for building the new Tundra in San Antonio since last November.
Incoming pres, Fukuta, has been with Toyota for 20-plus years. His most recent position before heading to TMMTX was General Manager at Toyota’s Tsutsumi plant in Japan. Tsutsumi is the facility that produces the Prius, Camry and Scion tC in Japan. TMMTX, alone, employs 2,000, and can produce up to 200,000 Tundras a year.
Thanks for the tip, landoncube!
[Source: Toyota via Yahoo!]