Toyota has made the official announcement -- it has decided to move its United States headquarters to Plano, Texas.

The Japanese automaker has maintained its headquarters in California since 1957, but has decided to relocate nearly all of its operations, including much of its engineering, finance and sales and marketing teams to Texas.

Plano, a suburb of the large metropolis of Dallas, will be a major change for Toyota, and the move will affect a large number of Toyota employees, including those at the current Torrance, CA, Toyota Motor Sales USA campus, as well as thousands of employees at the company's other locations. Some of the operations affected will include 1,000 workers at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America in Erlanger, KY. Toyota believes this reorganization will affect about 4,000 employees total.

While Toyota has invited all of its current employees to make the move with them, they know that some employees will be unwilling to relocate. To encourage relocation, and make the transition as easy as possible for employees, the automaker is reportedly making expenses-paid visits to Plano available to full-time staffers and spouses to help them make the relocation decision, as well as a lump-sum payment if they decide to go through with the move.

The move will mean massive savings for the automaker, specifically in areas of taxation, real estate and employee cost of living. The move will bring Toyota headquarters closer to the majority of its North American manufacturing facilities which are increasingly concentrated in southern states, including Texas.