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Toyota's Texas move could boost state's economy by $7.2B in 10 years

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently that includes the Toyota's effect on the economy. The giant Japanese automaker's new headquarters in Plano, TX, will add an estimated $7.2 billion to the state over the next 10 years, according to a new study commissioned by the city and cited by Bloomberg.
The benefits appear to be an absolute steal compared to the direct incentives that Plano and the state are giving Toyota. The report finds that by the time the automaker's campus is complete in 2018, it could have 3,650 full-time workers there at an average salary of $104,000. The city has prepared $6.75 million in grants, plus property tax discounts, according to Bloomberg. In addition to that, the state is offering the business $40 million in incentives from its Texas Enterprise Fund. This is still a fraction of what Toyota is estimated to bring in.
Toyota announced in April that it would move its US operations to Plano after being headquartered in California since 1957. The move affects thousands of employees from the sales and engineering divisions. The first workers will arrive there this fall, but Toyota will eventually have a whole campus in Plano by late 2017. The move is expected to save it huge amounts in taxation and offer employees a lower cost of living. Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz also says that the Texas location puts the headquarters closer to more of the business' factories in the south. Texas certainly appears to be showing it some southern hospitality.

400-hp Toyota Hybrid-R Concept gets second teaser

Toyota has released a second teaser of its Hybrid-R Concept, along with an estimation of the show car's power output. Using technology that's "similar to that used by Toyota Racing's TS030 Hybrid race car," the concept is expected to deliver over 400 horsepower.
The press release also mentions that the new concept is based on a current production model. While it's difficult to tell from the sole teaser image of the car's body, rumors are flying that it's related to the Yaris. If that's the case, though, it's difficult to know what to make of this concept. The teaser image is quite dark, but we played around with the exposure and came up with an image that reveals more details about the new concept. Take a look at the related gallery, below, to see the high-exposure image. We'll find out for certain what the Hybrid-R is in a few weeks at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Let us know what you think Toyota's newest concept is in the comments.

Toyota fires bullets into hydrogen fuel tanks, shoots down EV supporters

Many gearheads will remember that the 1970s-era Dodge Dart's claim to fame was that its motor was so durable (though not necessarily powerful) that one could shoot bullets into the engine block. Decades later, Toyota has taken a page out of that testing process. "Personally, I don't care what Elon [Musk] says about fuel cells." With some industry members and analysts questioning both the viability and durability of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, Toyota executive Bob Carter, speaking at the Automotive News World Congress this week, says the Japanese automaker went all Clint Eastwood on the fuel tanks of a fuel-cell prototype. Carter says that bullets from a small-caliber gun bounced off the carbon-fiber tanks, and that .50-caliber bullets barely made dents. The shoot-out motif kept going when Carter name-checked executives from Tesla, Nissan and Volkswagen in saying that he didn't care if other automakers question the future of fuel-cell vehicles. As you can see in the prepared text of Carter's speech below, he said, "Personally, I don't care what Elon [Musk], Carlos [Ghosn] or Jonathan [Browning] say about fuel cells. If they want to 'plug in and tune out' other technologies, that's fine." After debuting it in Tokyo late last year, Toyota showed off its FCV fuel-cell concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show this week as it get ready to start sales "around 2015." The car has a 300-mile range and should be priced somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. Autoblog drove Toyota's fuel-cell prototypes last year, and you can read our impressions here. 2014 Automotive News World Congress- Bob Carter January 14, 2014 As prepared for: Automotive News World Congress Tuesday, January 14, 2014 Bob Carter, Senior Vice President, Automotive Operations, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. _________________ Thanks, Keith and good afternoon everyone. You know, I've been in the car business for more than 30 years, but I'm more excited about it now than EVER before Why? Because for the first time in Toyota's history, we did something here we've NEVER done before. We shocked people by unveiling two great looking, fun-to-drive cars that blow a hole in the theory that Toyota only builds "appliances". Just yesterday, we unveiled Toyota's newest concept, the FT-1 sports car. I'm already getting people asking me when they can get their hands on one. The FT-1 represents the latest in our heritage of sports cars like the 2000GT, Celica, Supra and most recently, the FR-S.