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Lincoln Mercury, Joins Irvine, CA Business Community

14 July 1998

Lincoln Mercury, in Grand Opening of New Headquarters, Joins Thriving Irvine, CA Business Community

    IRVINE, Calif., July 14 -- Celebrating today the grand
opening of its new headquarters in Irvine, California, Lincoln Mercury becomes
the first U.S. automaker to locate its head office outside of Detroit since
World War II.  But Lincoln Mercury is only the latest in a rapid procession of
companies that have relocated to or begun and expanded in Irvine in recent
years.
    A leader in California's resurgence, Irvine today is one of the nation's
economic "hot spots."  Home to the Irvine Spectrum, the world's largest
master-planned commercial and technological center, Irvine has more hi-tech
workers than any other city in Southern California.  Its high school graduates
have the highest average SAT scores in the state, the city has been nationally
recognized for attributes ranging from public safety to raising children, and
it is currently a contender for the National Football League's 32nd franchise.
Irvine is home to the University of California at Irvine (UCI), one of the
fastest-growing schools in the California system that, with two recent Nobel
Prize winners, has swiftly become one of the leading public research
institutions in the United States.
    Founded in 1971, Irvine is a master planned community, the first and
largest in the United States.  The city was built around the UCI campus and
two major employment centers -- the Irvine Business Complex, and the Irvine
Spectrum, which with more than 20 million square feet of office, industrial
and R&D facilities, is home to 2,200 companies and 44,000 employees.  Still
young, Irvine is only fifty percent built-out and has a population of
130,000 that is expected to nearly double in the next 20 years.
    A list of Irvine's businesses reads like a Fortune 500 roster.  Microsoft,
Apple, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eastman Kodak, Hughes Aircraft, AT & T, Canon,
and Gateway 2000 all have operations in Irvine; companies ranging from Western
Digital to Taco Bell have their headquarters there; and scores of thriving
software companies such as Wonderware Corporation and Rainbow Technologies
were started and have grown exponentially there.
    Irvine is at the center of the so-called "Technology Coast", a hub of
hi-tech industries stretching from San Diego to Santa Barbara.  With more than
19,000 firms and 400,000 employees -- 20 percent more companies and 50 percent
more workers than Silicon Valley -- the region is home to the largest
concentration of technology firms and talent in the world.

    Lincoln Mercury Joins "Motown West"
    Lincoln Mercury's announcement of the move last January surprised many in
Detroit, but for those familiar with Orange County's auto industry, the surge
of automotive activity in the area has been underway for several years.
Quietly, with national or regional headquarters and design facilities of
16 auto makers, Irvine and its nearby communities have become a veritable
"Motown West".
    Auto companies with design studios in the area include Mercedes-Benz,
Nissan, Mazda, Kia, Toyota, Samsung, ITALDESIGN, Ron Powers and Metalcrafters.
North American headquarters for Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Kia, Kawasaki and
Suzuki are in Irvine, while nearby in Southern Los Angeles County, Honda,
Nissan and Toyota Motor Sales USA have set up their North American
headquarters.  Other companies with major operations in Irvine include
Chrysler (western U.S. headquarters); Toyota (dealers and distributors
division); Isuzu USA (regional headquarters); Lexus (operations in Irvine) and
Volvo (a division in Irvine).
    In explaining the decision to move west, Lincoln Mercury officials cited,
"California is known as a creative epicenter.  Cultural trends and automotive
ideas often start here."