Motorola will be Closing the Brand New Texas Moto X Plant by the End of the Year

[dgstorm]

Well that didn't last long...

Apparently, Lenovo doesn't feel Motorola's Moto X plant in the U.S. will be worth keeping around. The new Motorola plans to close the Texas based plant by the end of this year. According to insider info, the primary reason for the shutdown is simply cost. Despite the Moto X selling very well for Motorola, the economies of scale didn't deliver the savings Motorola was hoping it would. When you combine that with the higher cost of labor and shipping in the U.S., then the plant turns into a big money loser for the company.

It's a shame that Motorola wasted such a massive amount of money to build it, but it's even more of a shame because so many folks will soon lose their jobs.

Source: WSJ

 

[GoCliffGo05]

Sad to see. It was great while it lasted but the bottom line to companies is money.

Sent from my DE Moto X

 

[johnomaz]

I have a feeling Google is going to pick it up. Personally I hope they do because that's a lot of people going to be out of a job soon.

 

[pc747]

I think we all saw this coming when they announced Lenovo buying out Motorola. They are not going to want to pay American wages for a smart phone that will only be competitive if priced at the $349-$399 off contract price point. It would have been awesome for them to keep the American plant open but the reality is their top selling smart phone is the Moto g, the Moto x did not see a spike in sales until they dropped the price during the black friday deal.

 

[dgstorm]

^^. Sad but true.

 

[kodiak799]

I have a feeling Google is going to pick it up. Personally I hope they do because that's a lot of people going to be out of a job soon.

I thought about that possibility, but one article said they had already scaled the workforce down from 2500 to 700. Sounds like maybe part of it was the Moto Maker was a flop (no one saw that coming!)

 

[AECRADIO]

Thanks in part to obamacare, the rising costs of labor due to taxes, insurance and fees, and you have the great American catastrophe!
This is a boondoggle for U.S workers as it was when Circle-M opened up the plant in Jalisco for 'service and warranty' repairs, a.k.a: Mexirola.
This cost hundreds of U.S workers their jobs, and with Lenovo closing this plant in TX. the economy is plunging dungeonward fast!
I doubt this will be bailed out, this is a for-profit-only method of slashing costs while keeping the upper echelon fed still higher wages and tax options.

 

[AECRADIO]

After this move, I think my love for Motorola phones will take a nose dive.
I will focus on HTC or *gasp* Samsung.
I really love the HTC one, but OOP costs are too high presently.

 

[KaChow]

If Lenovo won't turn things around here. Then what I am secretly hoping that will happen here, is that Google will take over this facility, keep the existing workforce in place-> except change the employer from Motorola to Google, make this Moto X plant the new Google Glass manufacturing plant. With the build cost of the Google Glass at $80 and the retail cost at $1,500 I'm sure there is some way that this product could be "Made in the U.S.A".

 

[Hodor]

I'm a service tech who has worked on Lenovo products for years and believe me when I say that those morons don't know their a** from a hole in the ground!

I don't know how they put out the products they do, their laptop's are still riding on IBM’s reputation. I am sure their phones will do the same on Motorola's name. It is just very sad to see another American icon get sucked up by communist China

 

[lloydstrans]

I'm a service tech who has worked on Lenovo products for years and believe me when I say that those morons don't know their a** from a hole in the ground!

I don't know how they put out the products they do, their laptop's are still riding on IBM’s reputation. I am sure their phones will do the same on Motorola's name. It is just very sad to see another American icon get sucked up by communist China

Amen.

Sent from my DUM phone using Droid Forums

 

[kodiak799]

I'm a service tech who has worked on Lenovo products for years and believe me when I say that those morons don't know their a** from a hole in the ground!

Interesting...

Off topic, but as someone in the market for a new laptop (13-14", probably an ultrabook) what would you recommend?

 

[husker_fan]

At&t exclusive moto maker for months AND if your on a business account you can't do moto maker. They didn't exactly make it easy the consumer to use moto maker.

 

[s27moto]

Poor motorola

Sent from my XT320 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hodor]

Interesting...

Off topic, but as someone in the market for a new laptop (13-14", probably an ultrabook) what would you recommend?

That's kind of a tricky question because everyone's needs are so varied, but I always had good luck with Toshiba, Acer and Asus. Even within brands you find such a wide range of very satisfied to very unsatisfied users. I would just look for a model you like the looks and price of and then Google the heck out of it. You'll have to filter thru all the usual bs about how much this laptop ruined/saved my life, etc etc, but if you read between the lines you can usually determine if it's reliable enough for your needs.