LOS ANGELES AND FREMONT, CALIF. — Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to abandon its assembly line in Fremont marks the end of large-scale auto manufacturing in California, which over the years boasted a dozen or more plants building vehicles ranging from Studebakers to Camaro muscle cars.
The Japanese automaker said Thursday that it would end production at the plant March 31, throwing 4,700 people out of work, and return some production to Japan.
It's another hard blow for California, a state already grappling with an 11.9% unemployment rate -- its highest since World War II and the fourth-worst in the nation.
In addition to wiping out the jobs directly tied to the plant, closing the facility will send ripples through the web of suppliers that make components for the factory and through nearby stores, restaurants and bars that depend on its workers for business.
Overall, closing the plant could cost more than 40,000 jobs, according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has worked with other public officials to try to keep the plant open. But communications with Toyota eventually broke down, she said.
Operated as a joint venture between Toyota and the former General Motors Corp. since 1984, the plant saw its future put in doubt last month when GM pulled out of the arrangement as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
Executives of the venture, New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., told union members Thursday morning about Toyota's decision. It is the first time that Toyota has ever closed a major auto assembly plant.
Assembly line worker Jose Hernandez, 40, who commutes 75 miles to the plant from the Central Valley town of Ceres, said the news was a bit surprising because the plant had been busy since the government's "cash for clunkers" program jump-started auto sales this month.
"What can I do, look for a job, which is going to be very difficult right now?" he asked.
End of an era
Shutting down the plant will be another milepost in the long erosion of California's once-thriving auto industry -- a decline that is being only partly offset by the rise of a new breed of start-up car companies specializing in such advanced technology as all-electric drivetrains.
The old plants with their union payrolls provided a vital boost into the middle class for many Californians.
