The world’s largest automaker recently announced it’s coming to Texas, a move Corpus Christi Toyota dealer Mike Shaw says will bring lots of jobs to the state but won’t affect his already booming local sales.
Industry experts say Toyota is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Plano to boost lagging sales in the heartland. Although America is now the biggest consumer of Toyotas — even beating out its home country of Japan — sales in middle America and the South are dropping.
As the most recent recipient of the company’s national President’s Award, Shaw said Toyota sales in Corpus Christi are not on the decline as they are elsewhere in the nation.
“We had a record year in 2012. [Last year] was even better, and 2014 is tracking to be even better,” Shaw told Corpus Christi Business News. The Toyota President’s Award, which Shaw’s dealership at 3232 U.S. 77 Business also won in 2012, is given for maintaining high standards of customer service.
“It’s all about taking care of the customers, employees and the Corpus Christi community,” Shaw said. “It is a testament to our employees.”
Attention to customers also could be the driving force behind Toyota’s surprising relocation. The Lone Star State is the second largest light-vehicle market and the nation’s top purchaser of pickup trucks. As the only automaker with a pickup truck manufacturing plant in Texas, Toyota certainly realizes the value of that market.
Despite its San Antonio-based plant, however, Toyota pickups only represent 11.3 percent of the trucks sold in the United States. Ford leads the pack with 36 percent of the market followed by General Motors with 24 and Ram with 15 percent.
Toyota’s share of the car market has been dropping as well. In 2013, Toyota had 17.1 percent of the market compared to 20 percent in 2009. Its combined truck and car sales has dropped by about 2 percent in Texas.
Selling trucks has not been a problem for Mike Shaw Toyota in Corpus Christi. Thanks to the current economic boom fueled by the oil industry and the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play, truck sales are in demand and his sales are up.
The current economic boom has had a “tremendous positive effect, especially in truck sales,” Shaw said. The economic upswing also led to Shaw purchasing a Kia dealership, which opened in May at 6802 South Padre Island Drive.
Being in Texas has already proven to be good business for this local dealer. Now, his parent company is following suit. Other incentives for uprooting about 2,000 employees include a cheaper cost of living, better quality of life and no state taxes.
