With new plant coming to San Antonio, Toyota takes aim at the heart of U.S. truck market

The Detriot News reports:

Marsha Shields, one of the winners of the Ford Motor Co. president's award for outstanding dealers, stood in a receiving line in April 2003 waiting eagerly to meet CEO Bill Ford Jr. Her father, Red McCombs, had sold Ford vehicles since the early '50s and she grew up hearing about the Ford family.

When Bill Ford approached and saw from Shields' nametag that she was from San Antonio, he came straight to the point. "'Why is Toyota building a plant in San Antonio?' " Shields says. "That's all he wanted to talk about."

At the time, Toyota hadn't confirmed that it would build a pickup truck plant in San Antonio, but the rumors already were rattling Detroit's automakers.

Full-size pickups like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are among the U.S. automakers' most lucrative vehicles, and Texas is the heart of the American truck market. One in four vehicles registered here is a full-size pickup, nearly double the national average.

By building a plant here, Toyota signaled its intent to muscle its way into this all-American segment.

No word yet on Paul Krugman writing a column about the great business climate in Texas vs.Canada.