On February 3, Toyota released a statement regarding the status of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, Calif.
“Toyota's decision to end its production contract with NUMMI was difficult but necessary, given General Motors' actions to abandon the joint venture, which severely undermined the economic viability of the plant and precipitated this situation. But rather than halting production orders abruptly last August, as GM did, Toyota committed to ordering vehicles from NUMMI through April 1, 2010, enabling NUMMI to provide employment to its team members for seven additional months to help with their planning and transition.
“While NUMMI is an independent company, we remain committed to working closely with all those involved to make the transition as smooth as possible. It is unfortunate that neither GM – NUMMI's other shareholder and customer for 25 years – nor its current shareholder, Motors Liquidation Company, has indicated that it will do the same.
“We remain strongly committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in the U.S. Toyota continues to have a significant positive impact on the American economy, with our total U.S. investment valued at more than $17 billion. We directly and indirectly employ more than 172,000 employees and dealership personnel in North America, including several thousand people in California. We look forward to continuing to serve our customers in California and will remain the state's largest automotive employer.”
