David W. Hermance, Toyota’s executive engineer in the United States for advanced technology vehicles (including hybrid-electric cars), died on Saturday in a plane crash at 59. In addition to his work at Toyota (starting in 1991 as an emissions compliance engineer) and at General Motors (where he worked as an engineer for 26 years), Hermance was a licensed pilot who often entered flight competitions. His plane apparently stalled while he was doing stunts over the Pacific.

Toyota celebrated the opening of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX), the company’s new $1.28 billion plant in San Antonio, in a ceremony that included honorary chairman Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda and president Katsuaki Watanabe. Toyota also donated $600,000 to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) to establish the Toyota Family Literacy Program in three local schools. Construction started in 2003; it is expected to produce 200,000 pickups per year, using 2,000 employees as well as 21 on-site suppliers to produce parts locally. An additional 2,100 employees will work for the suppliers, who invested a total of $300 million.

The Tundra will start arriving in showrooms in February 2007, complete with a best in class V8 engine. By 2008, Toyota will be able to make 2 million cars and trucks in its 15 North American plants. Toyota directly employs nearly 40,000 people in North America.

See our main pages with photos: 2007 Toyota Tundra | Texas plant

Our sister site dedicated to the Toyota Corolla, corolland.com, has just updated its history page with better coverage of the 1983 Corolla and the 4A engine.

Toyota’s global master plan, leaked to the Asian Wall Street Journal, calls for a 14% market share (worldwide) by 2010, which would make it the world’s largest automaker. Toyota would not comment on the leak, but is currently the world’s second largest automaker with 11% of the world market, and is, in addition to investing in China and India, working on a one-Tundra-per-minute factory in the US – supported by a best in class V8 engine for the new full-size truck. General Motors, while expanding in China, appears to be contracting or remaining stable in the United States, while Toyota is consistently growing in the US.

Toyota’s plan predicts a 73 million vehicle market in 2010 (it was 65 million in 2005), with most of the growth coming from Asia. In addition to the more serious full-size pickup in America, Toyota is designing a new compact for emerging markets.

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Bob McCurry, a sales executive partly responsible for Toyota’s sales successes in the United States, died on November 14. He was 83, and has worked for Chrysler for 28 years before joining Toyota; according to Automotive News, McCurry invented the auto sales rebate in 1975.

Note: there is now a more complete bio, with photography and more details on his Toyota career, at Allpar

Toyoland has posted a new Starlet page and has expanded its Celica coverage.