Gulf States Toyota Distributors
Encyclopedia
Gulf States Toyota Distributors (GST) is the world’s second largest franchised distributor of Toyota vehicles. The 150 dealers in the five states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas account for 13% of Toyota sales in the United States. GST is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Friedkin Companies and ranked 53rd on the Forbes
2008 list of America's Largest Private Companies.
, famous racecar driver was approached by Toyota in 1968 about becoming an automobile distributor. According to Shelby,
Shelby told his racing buddy, Tom Friedkin
, about Toyota's intentions to sell distributor licenses. Friedkin flew to Japan and convinced Toyota that he had the necessary knowledge and resources.
Gulf States Toyota brought the first Toyota vehicle to Houston, Texas
in 1969, when all Toyota vehicles were manufactured in Japan
and imported into the US. Three years later, the company employed 35 associates and had sold 5,000 cars and trucks through 14 dealerships. GST also completed construction of a processing center on a 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) site at the Port of Houston
.
In 1979, GST won the Import Vehicle Triple Crown by being first in import car, truck and combined import sales in the United States with 65,826 vehicles sold.
The NUMMI
plant, a joint venture with General Motors
, opened at Fremont, California
in 1984 and was Toyota's first assembly plant in the US.
Gulf States Toyota completed construction and opened its Parts Distribution Center (PDC) near Sealy, Texas
in 1986. Today, the PDC provides dedicated parts delivery to over 150 dealers, shipping nearly 100% of all orders every day.
By 1994, GST had exceeded 100,000 in total vehicle sales and outgrown its processing center at the port. GST opened its 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) Vehicle Processing Center on Houston's Northside, built to handle 150,000 vehicles a year. The facility is served by rail and transport trucks and employs over 600 associates.
With vehicle sales steadily increasing, GST outsold Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (Torrance, CA) in import car market share in 1998. With record sales in 2000, GST processed 11% of all Toyotas sold in the United States.
In 2003, GST helped name Houston's premier sports and entertainment venue—the Toyota Center
. Toyota broke ground on its 2000 acres (8.1 km²) truck plant in nearby San Antonio, Texas
. The plant, which produces the full-size Tundra
pickup, represents a $1.58 billion investment in the community. At year's end, GST exceeded 149,000 total vehicles sold.
In 2005, Gulf States Toyota was named the #1 privately held company in Houston by the Houston Chronicle
's Chronicle 100 list. GST was also listed at #40 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies. By the end of the year, more than 185,000 vehicles were sold through 145 dealerships.
Production began at San Antonio's Texas truck plant in 2006. That same year, GST's Vehicle Processing Center expanded to 150 acre (0.607029 km²) and GST had sold 226,960 vehicles at year-end.
in Jacksonville, Florida
, founded by the late Jim Moran.
Texas is a huge market for pickup trucks and GST's advertising promotes the Tundra as "The Pickup Truck Made in Texas, by Texans, for Texans". GST sells 20% of all Toyota pickups sold in the United States and Fred Haas Toyota World in Spring, Texas
is the nation's top seller of Tundras, so GST's success is tied to truck sales. Total investment by Toyota on the new truck plant in San Antonio was more than $1 billion and generated 4,100 new jobs. According to Toby Hynes, president of Gulf States Toyota, "Dealers in the region are currently investing $600 million to bring their facilities up to the new Toyota standards. At GST, we are investing $70 million in a greatly expanded Vehicle Processing Center in Houston and other facilities...so we can bring the highest levels of service to our customers. So, to put it mildly, Toyota, Gulf States Toyota and our dealers are expanding in Texas in just about every way you can imagine."
Toyota revamped the 2007, adding a more powerful V8 engine and increased towing capacity, and launched a marketing campaign that included visits to Home Depot parking lots, country music concerts and sports events.
In 2009, GST celebrated their 40th year in business; their marketing slogan is also their goal: "a Toyota in every garage".
To prepare for another Hurricane Katrina
event and to provide additional vehicle processing capacity, the company planned the construction of a $50 million Inland Processing facility in Temple, Texas
, which should break ground in 2009 in Rail Park at Central Pointe. It will serve as a centralized location for receiving, accessorizing and distributing Toyota and Scion vehicles that arrive from Toyota’s North American manufacturing centers by train, as well as transport trucks from the nearby San Antonio truck plant. The facility is expected to open in 2011.
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
2008 list of America's Largest Private Companies.
History
Carroll ShelbyCarroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...
, famous racecar driver was approached by Toyota in 1968 about becoming an automobile distributor. According to Shelby,
"I turned it down because I went to Lee IacoccaLee IacoccaLido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is an American businessman known for engineering the Mustang, the unsuccessful Ford Pinto, being fired from Ford Motor Company, and his revival of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s...
, and he told me not to take it because the domestic makers were going to push the Japanese back into the ocean."
Shelby told his racing buddy, Tom Friedkin
Thomas H. Friedkin
Thomas Hoyt Friedkin is a businessman whose net worth, according to the Forbes 400 in 2008, was estimated at $2 billion.He has been described as by Forbes magazine.-Airplanes:...
, about Toyota's intentions to sell distributor licenses. Friedkin flew to Japan and convinced Toyota that he had the necessary knowledge and resources.
Gulf States Toyota brought the first Toyota vehicle to Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
in 1969, when all Toyota vehicles were manufactured in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and imported into the US. Three years later, the company employed 35 associates and had sold 5,000 cars and trucks through 14 dealerships. GST also completed construction of a processing center on a 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) site at the Port of Houston
Port of Houston
The Port of Houston is a port in Houston—the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico...
.
In 1979, GST won the Import Vehicle Triple Crown by being first in import car, truck and combined import sales in the United States with 65,826 vehicles sold.
The NUMMI
NUMMI
New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. was an automobile manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, opened in 1984 and closed in 2010. On October 27, 2010 it reopened as a 100% Tesla Motors-owned production facility, known as the Tesla Factory...
plant, a joint venture with General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, opened at Fremont, California
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
in 1984 and was Toyota's first assembly plant in the US.
Gulf States Toyota completed construction and opened its Parts Distribution Center (PDC) near Sealy, Texas
Sealy, Texas
Sealy is a city in Austin County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 5,248 at the 2000 census. Sealy is located 50 miles west of the downtown Houston area.-Geography:...
in 1986. Today, the PDC provides dedicated parts delivery to over 150 dealers, shipping nearly 100% of all orders every day.
By 1994, GST had exceeded 100,000 in total vehicle sales and outgrown its processing center at the port. GST opened its 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) Vehicle Processing Center on Houston's Northside, built to handle 150,000 vehicles a year. The facility is served by rail and transport trucks and employs over 600 associates.
With vehicle sales steadily increasing, GST outsold Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (Torrance, CA) in import car market share in 1998. With record sales in 2000, GST processed 11% of all Toyotas sold in the United States.
In 2003, GST helped name Houston's premier sports and entertainment venue—the Toyota Center
Toyota Center (Houston)
The Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Houston, Texas. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Rockets of the National Basketball Association, the principal owners of the building, and the Aeros of the American Hockey League.Rockets...
. Toyota broke ground on its 2000 acres (8.1 km²) truck plant in nearby San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. The plant, which produces the full-size Tundra
Toyota Tundra
The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck introduced by Toyota in the year 2000. It was widely considered to be the first full-size import-brand truck built with an American look and feel and a refined V8 engine. The Tundra was eventually nominated for the North American Truck of the Year...
pickup, represents a $1.58 billion investment in the community. At year's end, GST exceeded 149,000 total vehicles sold.
In 2005, Gulf States Toyota was named the #1 privately held company in Houston by the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
's Chronicle 100 list. GST was also listed at #40 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies. By the end of the year, more than 185,000 vehicles were sold through 145 dealerships.
Production began at San Antonio's Texas truck plant in 2006. That same year, GST's Vehicle Processing Center expanded to 150 acre (0.607029 km²) and GST had sold 226,960 vehicles at year-end.
Today
Toyota has opened 7 manufacturing facilities in the US and in 2008, more than 60% of Toyotas sold in the US are made in the US. Today, the majority of vehicles distributed by GST are not unloaded from ships. Gulf States Toyota Distributors is one of just two private distributors of Toyota vehicles in the United States. The other is Southeast Toyota Distributors LLCSoutheast Toyota Distributors LLC
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC is the world’s largest franchised distributor of Toyota vehicles. The 172 dealers in the five states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina & South Carolina account for 20% of Toyota sales in the United States...
in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, founded by the late Jim Moran.
Texas is a huge market for pickup trucks and GST's advertising promotes the Tundra as "The Pickup Truck Made in Texas, by Texans, for Texans". GST sells 20% of all Toyota pickups sold in the United States and Fred Haas Toyota World in Spring, Texas
Spring, Texas
Spring, Texas is a census-designated place within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, north of Downtown Houston. The population was 54,298 at the 2010 census...
is the nation's top seller of Tundras, so GST's success is tied to truck sales. Total investment by Toyota on the new truck plant in San Antonio was more than $1 billion and generated 4,100 new jobs. According to Toby Hynes, president of Gulf States Toyota, "Dealers in the region are currently investing $600 million to bring their facilities up to the new Toyota standards. At GST, we are investing $70 million in a greatly expanded Vehicle Processing Center in Houston and other facilities...so we can bring the highest levels of service to our customers. So, to put it mildly, Toyota, Gulf States Toyota and our dealers are expanding in Texas in just about every way you can imagine."
Toyota revamped the 2007, adding a more powerful V8 engine and increased towing capacity, and launched a marketing campaign that included visits to Home Depot parking lots, country music concerts and sports events.
In 2009, GST celebrated their 40th year in business; their marketing slogan is also their goal: "a Toyota in every garage".
Future
A new corporate headquarters is being constructed in west Houston with a 400000 square feet (37,161.2 m²) campus consisting of a connected five story and ten story building and an eight floor parking garage. The complex will also include a 40000 square feet (3,716.1 m²) training center, in addition to Gulf States Marketing and Gulf States Financial Services offices. The complex, which has been under development for several years, is projected to open in the summer of 2009.To prepare for another Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
event and to provide additional vehicle processing capacity, the company planned the construction of a $50 million Inland Processing facility in Temple, Texas
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...
, which should break ground in 2009 in Rail Park at Central Pointe. It will serve as a centralized location for receiving, accessorizing and distributing Toyota and Scion vehicles that arrive from Toyota’s North American manufacturing centers by train, as well as transport trucks from the nearby San Antonio truck plant. The facility is expected to open in 2011.