For more than 25 years, thousands of workers in northern California have committed their lives to producing high-quality Toyotas at the Bay Area’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) auto plant. Hundreds of thousands of car-buying Californians have made Toyota the No. 1 car company in the state. So when Toyota announced last year it plans to close the NUMMI plant April 1, the company dealt an undeserved punch in the gut to California’s workers and consumers, not to mention our state’s already faltering economy.