SAN ANTONIO — Governor Greg Abbott gave remarks at the Roll-Off Ceremony for the new 2022 Toyota Tundra pickup truck.
The celebration was held Friday at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing at 1 Lone Star Pass on the south side of San Antonio.
San Antonio is home to Toyota's truck assembly plant, which assembles full-size Tundra and mid-size Tacoma pickup trucks.
Friday's ceremony celebrated the first major model change at the San Antonio plant since it first opened, which is a big milestone for the company.
"I started my journey with Toyota right here in San Antonio in 2005 and it is my great honor to support this plant in its first major model change since we started building trucks," Toyota Texas President Kevin Voelkel said at the press conference. "Our groundbreaking ceremony was in 2003 and since then, we've invested over $3.1 billion in our facility."
In his remarks, Governor Abbott commemorated the role Toyota has played in the Texas economy over the last several years.
"In the first 11 months of the year, there are 70 businesses that relocated their headquarters to Texas," Gov. Abbott said. "All of these companies that are moving to Texas, that are growing in Texas, are following a trail blazed by Toyota."
Governor Abbott also mentioned how the future of the new companies coming to Texas is tied to the future of Toyota Texas.
"Facilities like the massive new semiconductor plant by Samsung that was announced last week, as well as the $30 billion semiconductor plant announced the week before," Gov. Abbott said. "I'll mention those two because semiconductor chips are through Texas Instruments as well as Samsung are used by Toyota in their products."
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg viewed the celebration as a symbol of economic recovery and getting people back to work.
“The fact that it is San Antonio hands producing San Antonio trucks, part of our economic comeback and a celebration of the partnership with Toyota, which has been critical for our city for the last 20 years and also importantly during the last difficult years during the pandemic," Nirenberg said.
Toyota Texas officials also announced they're giving back to the San Antonio community by donating $650,000 to help expand access to transportation, food and STEM education with a focus on workforce development on the south side.
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