Toyota's 100 acre North American headquarters
took about 2 1/2 years to build,
and it seems like the time lapse
pace just kept on going because
it's been nearly twice that long.
Five years now since this one of
the largest US corporate relocators
in memory parked in Plano.
So much has changed in those five years.
But as I found out last month,
some things haven't the auto industry.
Is so competitive that Toyota has hallways
big enough for delivery trucks to drive
through stealthily and deposit secret
parts and vehicles into locked bays,
all out of sight of what they
call the automotive paparazzi.
And do people show up to take
pictures of something like that
if they know it's coming?
They would.
But I mean, that's.
But we've been able to kill all of that now,
even accompanied by Jack Hollis,
the executive Vice president of sales.
Toyota Motor North America
here's your code red. No entry.
I could only get into one of the rooms.
So is the code red
room. This is really focused
on Motorsports. Obviously
we had to get you a little
pre pre approved to come in.
You have to do a background check.
We had to do a lot of background check. There
is to know in here. Toyota's racing
specimens provide inspiration
for future St vehicles. What
can we learn from the spring and shock?
What can we learn from
certain tire and tire sizes,
continuous improvement,
continuous improvement.
What you and I will see on the car lot.
In two or three years might
originate from a race car in here,
or possibly even from this.
Anything that has been successful,
there's something about it. Or
the next big thing could be
whatever that is. You'd like
me to show it to you?
I would, but I'm guessing you want,
but the answer is I'm not going to.
I'd like that to show it to me.
And they won't show it to me either,
seeing what's in here.
No, no, I haven't.
In the headquarters lobby, though,
we did get to see the new Sequoia.
It's just about ready to launch
this month and the latest tundra.
I'm proud of our new truck out of
San Antonio and the next Lexus has
not even started production yet.
All of them, of course,
full of computer chips.
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of chips.
Those chips make cars smarter,
but they are still in very short supply,
so new vehicles are too.
I asked Jack Hollis when will normal return?
I think it's closer to 24,
where I think there's more about
equalization between supply and demand.
One change Hollis thinks will be permanent
is how Americans shop for automobiles.
Right now they're in the
middle of the night pajamas.
Then go online, configure their car,
go find it at a dealership.
In fact, go all the way through
trade and finance purchase and
deliver it all the way to their
home that didn't exist pre pandemic.
He also believes work from home is here
to stay, but with an important caveat.
I better produce at or above the
level I was previously expected.
That's that's what I'm pushing
us towards. So if you're
watching this and you're wearing
PJ pants working, step it up.
Enjoy it. You better be working
even harder right now. Let's go.
Apparently many of Hollis's coworkers
must be meeting that standard.
It's a lot less you see,
a lot less people.
It can look almost as sparse as a
pandemic era new car lot in here.
Some workplace cafes are dark,
the grill not as crowded.
The company Jim on this day, was one man's.
Private workout space and the ever
popular Rockwall was available.
No waiting of the 6000 local
Toyota employees and partners.
As many as half now flex work from
home on any given day instead
of coming into this sprawling
amenities packed billion dollar
headquarters that was built not
that long ago to house all of them.
Everybody got settled in and
then came the pandemic boom.
You got everybody under these roofs
here together and then the pandemic.
With that tremendous workforce,
evolution isn't enough.
Toyota is also evolving away from just
cars and trucks and SUV's. Wait, what
we're talking about moving from an
automotive company that's just focused on
on on just vehicles to a mobility
company that we can create
a different kind of scooter?
Or how about somebody who has
a person with disabilities?
What if they could have a
home that helps them walk?
So you see Toyota becoming that.
Absolutely. That makes you really
curious about what will be in those code
red rooms in the Plano headquarters.
So we're going to have to make sure
that five years don't pass by again
before we check in there once more.
I have much more from our
visit to headquarters.
It's in today's article posted at Jason
Wheeler TV on Facebook and Twitter,
the virtual headquarters
for right on the money.