City of SA does NOT buy Toyota Trucks (Houston, San Antonio: renting, buying)

[Primo]

This is so typical of San Antonio city government. They begged and pleaded and spent thousands, if not millions of dollars to land the Toyota factory...and they have not bought a single truck built in San Antonio in the 5 or so years they have been in production. Way to support your local economy City of San Antonio.

While the story says none of the local dealerships have participated in the bid process, that seems a little unusual to me. What about CPS, SAWS, the school districts? (and I understand some work requires a 3/4 ton truck, which toyota doesnt make)

You would think Moderator cut: Off-Topic someone in authority at the city purchasing office might have thought, "why arent we buying any locally built Toyota?" or "Wow Toyota made a big decision and put a lot of faith in us, lets make sure ALL city vehicles are Toyota from now on"
Some may argue we only need to buy American like Ford or Chevy and we are just sending money to Japan. Well the Toyota plant pays a nice wage to thousands that in turn spend that in San Antonio, and the factory and all those people pay taxes that support the local SA economy.
And the last Chevy truck I bought was built in Canada, so I am not so sure if GM is any more American than Toyota.

City, county have no Toyota trucks from SA plant | News - Home


Anyway I hope things change soon and this City takes some pride in itself for once and we start seeing the City, the County, CPS, SAWs all using Tundras and Tacomas. Hell a Tundra and Tacoma should be the only cars allowed in the Battle of Flowers Parade!

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by Primo

This is so typical of San Antonio city government. They begged and pleaded and spent thousands, if not millions of dollars to land the Toyota factory...and they have not bought a single truck built in San Antonio in the 5 or so years they have been in production. Way to support your local economy City of San Antonio.

While the story says none of the local dealerships have participated in the bid process, that seems a little unusual to me. What about CPS, SAWS, the school districts? (and I understand some work requires a 3/4 ton truck, which toyota doesnt make)

You would think Moderator cut: Off-Topic someone in authority at the city purchasing office might have thought, "why arent we buying any locally built Toyota?" or "Wow Toyota made a big decision and put a lot of faith in us, lets make sure ALL city vehicles are Toyota from now on"
Some may argue we only need to buy American like Ford or Chevy and we are just sending money to Japan. Well the Toyota plant pays a nice wage to thousands that in turn spend that in San Antonio, and the factory and all those people pay taxes that support the local SA economy.
And the last Chevy truck I bought was built in Canada, so I am not so sure if GM is any more American than Toyota.

City, county have no Toyota trucks from SA plant | News - Home


Anyway I hope things change soon and this City takes some pride in itself for once and we start seeing the City, the County, CPS, SAWs all using Tundras and Tacomas. Hell a Tundra and Tacoma should be the only cars allowed in the Battle of Flowers Parade!

While I agree with you. The problem is like you said, the Toyota dealers have to parciptate in the bid process as the other dealers. I don't think the city can just go directly to a dealership and buy the trucks but I may be wrong.

That is funny that none of the dealers will parciptate in the bidding process, I wonder why?

If we can afford to spend thousands to change street names and send officials overseas to visit sister cities, then I am sure we could afford to spend a little more to have Toyota trucks and cars in the city fleet line up.

[SnappyBob]

The San Antonio city government does not put a big priority on supporting the local economy. They are more likly to feed off of it. Moderator cut: Off-Topic

[69GSstage1]

Toyota, as a rule of thumb, does not participate in fleet sales. Profits are higher selling to the general public. A while back, I was renting a vehicle. The customer in front of me insisted on renting an "American" vehicle. He ended up renting a PT Cruiser. Turned out that the car was built in Mexico with hardly any domestic content.

[apal]

from the article:
department heads simply did not know they were an affordable choice.
"We will educate our departments and offices and let them know they do have options," Garza said.
He said that means the county could be buying Toyota trucks from South Texas in the future.
The county's Vehicle Replacement Committee recommends which vehicles should be bought and sold.
A list of proposed purchases is brought before commissioners court for final approval.

[TexasRedneck]

Does it matter whether the trucks meet the purchasing criteria, or should they buy 'em anyways?

Moderator cut: Orphaned

[goodmanm]

I think I read somewhere that the trucks aren't sold directly here, they ship them elsewhere for distribution. So unless we're the sole producer I don't think it would be guaranteed we'd get vehicles made solely in SA.

[TrapperL]

I would say the folks downtown are apparently a lot smarter than you and that's why they don't buy them. The tailgates wouldn't last a month and has been a known issue with the Tundra. There is zero support under the bed for any kind of rack which is why you don't see any commercial use Tundras. The Tacoma is even worse with it's plastic bed, and it's not a warranty item if you load a motorcycle and it goes thru the bed. Otherwise, the Toyotas are not any better than any other brand and in some areas are worse...like fuel mileage. As a taxpayer you'd want the best and cheapest to operate-right? Ever had to have any work done on a Toyota? You need to go by the bank first for just the parts........IF you can find them. Yeah, sometimes the parts are only available from the Japanese plants and you might have to wait for the ship to come in. You can ask a good friend of mine about the steering box cost and wait for parts- try 3 months waiting and $4000.00. Or you could ask my nephew how well the Tundra holds up as a town driver in commercial use- he'll never own another one as maintenance costs are eating him up. So while it's a good thing to have the Toyotas built here, the trucks they build are NOT commercial quality.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by goodmanm

I think I read somewhere that the trucks aren't sold directly here, they ship them elsewhere for distribution. So unless we're the sole producer I don't think it would be guaranteed we'd get vehicles made solely in SA.

They are shipped to Houston or shipped on rail. Once the truck is made, a logistics company takes ownership of them and distributes them out to the dealers.

As for trucks made in San Antonio, both the Tundra and Tacoma are only made in San Antonio except the four door Tacoma which is still made in Mexico.

[theeddie]

they are horrible work trucks. they are built to look pretty and drive nice.

yes they may san antonio built but they arent san antonio owned. all the big money goes away