The head of Baja California’s CCE (Business Coordinating Council) has sharply criticized government officials for downplaying Toyota’s decision to shift Tacoma pickup production from the state to San Antonio, Texas. Octavio Sandoval López, the CCE’s coordinating president, called it “incorrect,” “confusing,” and “misleading” for authorities to describe the move as merely the departure of “one production line.”
Toyota announced on July 6 that it will invest $3.6 billion to add a second assembly line at its Texas plant, dedicated to the Tacoma. The company said Tacoma production will transition out of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Baja California over roughly four years, with the shift expected to be complete by 2030.
Government Framing Draws Fire
Sandoval López’s rebuke was directed at state officials who spent the days after Toyota’s announcement reassuring the public that the Tijuana plant is not closing. While technically accurate, that framing omits the scale of what is leaving. The Tacoma line is one of the region’s most significant manufacturing operations, and its departure will ripple through local suppliers and the broader maquiladora economy.
Baja California state officials have said they have been in talks with Toyota for three years about bringing a research center to the region. They have also pointed out that Toyota invested in updating the Tijuana Tacoma line just two years ago. But none of those reassurances address what happens to workers when Tacoma assembly moves north.
Toyota Is Not Leaving Mexico Entirely
The company will continue building Tacomas at its newer plant in Guanajuato and still produces the Corolla in Mexico. So the shift is partial, not a full exit from the country. But for Baja California specifically, losing the Tacoma line from the Tijuana facility is a concrete blow.
Toyota has not publicly detailed what it plans to produce at the Baja California plant after 2030 or whether total employment in the state will remain stable. The company’s original announcement confirmed the Texas expansion and the production shift but offered no specifics about the Tijuana plant’s future.
Tariffs Loom Over the Decision
Mexico’s president has attributed the move to U.S. trade policy pressures, and reporting from Axios noted that the shift allows Toyota to “sidestep uncertainty regarding U.S. trade policy with Mexico and Canada.” Toyota itself has not credited tariffs as the reason for the decision.
For the thousands of workers at the Tijuana plant and the network of local parts suppliers that feed it, the four-year timeline creates a window of uncertainty. The CCE’s public pushback signals that Baja California’s private sector is not satisfied with official reassurances and wants a clearer accounting of the economic consequences.
This story was first reported by Zeta Tijuana.