Motorola shutting down its Texas plant where they built Moto X

Motorola Mobility has announced that it will shut down its factory in Texas that was opened to build the Moto X smartphone last year.

The plant, at its peak, employed 3800 workers, but that figure is down to 700 now.

While the company had hoped to show that manufacturing could make its way back to the U.S., it appears the costs remained too high (or demand was too low) to keep the plant open. Motorola is said to have sold 900,000 Moto X in the last quarter, compared to 26 million iPhone 5S, and over 40 million Samsung smartphones.

The Moto X will continue to be built in China and Brazil, confirmed the company.

Motorola's mid-range but cheap devices, like the Moto E and Moto G, have huge followings in nations like India and Brazil, and will therefore not be built in the U.S., where shipping and labor costs would be too high.

Source:
WSJ

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 May 2014 15:21

hearme0

Go ahead Motorola! You P.O.S. F'ING SELLOUTS!

Go make that CRAP for other countries because you have no desire to appeal to the greatness of OUR COUNTRY.

I wish Moto would shrivel up and die! They've sucked the consumer market dry with GOD awful sub-standard products only to primarily cater to Brazil and India???? WTF is that?

Disgusting epitome of America biz.

2.6.2014 14:03 #1

Ripper

Originally posted by hearme0: Go ahead Motorola! You P.O.S. F'ING SELLOUTS!

Go make that CRAP for other countries because you have no desire to appeal to the greatness of OUR COUNTRY.

I wish Moto would shrivel up and die! They've sucked the consumer market dry with GOD awful sub-standard products only to primarily cater to Brazil and India???? WTF is that?

Disgusting epitome of America biz.

2.6.2014 14:26 #2

Chroma45

:D Best reply ever.

2.6.2014 19:50 #3

Jemborg

Less than a year.... what does this tell us?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

Dick Smith VZ300-
Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

3.6.2014 04:04 #4

Ripper

Originally posted by Jemborg: Less than a year.... what does this tell us?

------------------------------------------------------------------------- That not enough Moto X units were sold to exploit economies of scale that would enable production to remain in the US.

3.6.2014 04:42 #5

Jemborg

Originally posted by Ripper: Originally posted by Jemborg: Less than a year.... what does this tell us?

------------------------------------------------------------------------- That not enough Moto X units were sold to exploit economies of scale that would enable production to remain in the US. I'm really asking about the why.

I honestly don't know. Is it the death knell for manufacturing in the US or just a crap product? Is it wages or education? What part does globalisation play in this... was it just a final assembly plant... ?

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

Dick Smith VZ300-
Zilog Z80 CPU, 32KB RAM (16K+16K cartridge), video processor 6847, 2KB video RAM, 16 colours (text mode), 5.25" FDD

3.6.2014 11:18 #6

Chroma45

They are all final assembly plants. Made in China is not MADE in China.

4.6.2014 17:05 #7

ddp

look at the name in the picture over the doorway as that is not owned by google or motorola.

4.6.2014 17:55 #8

Ripper

Well Motorola is now owned by Lenovo (or will be whenever the deal goes through), but a quick Google search tells that this decision to close the factory was made prior to the sale.

4.6.2014 19:44 #9

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