This year’s state fair is especially important for the world’s largest automaker as it readies to double down on its truck-building investment in the Lone Star State. A dual-line in Toyota’s San Antonio plant will start building Tacomas alongside Tundras next year. Toyota hopes consolidating truck production in Texas — the largest market for pickups in the country — will help bolster its status with consumers in the biggest pickup market.And the state fair is a perfect place to try and snag attention from competitors. Organizers tout the auto show at the state fair as one of the largest in the country. It’s also viewed as one of the best venues for automakers to show of their latest trucks.
This year, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Chevrolet and Toyota are displaying their latest pickups in a roughly 130,000-square-foot pavilion at the fair, which is expected to draw about 3 million visitors during its three-week run.
The opportunity to tap into a Texas crowd wasn’t missed by one of Toyota’s top North American executives. Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of the automakers selling arm in the United States, reminded a crowd Thursday that “Toyota is the only manufacturer that builds pickup trucks in Texas.”
And with the arrival of the Tacoma, Toyota now will be building about 80 percent of its entire pickup fleet in San Antonio.
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