Orange County operations of big automakers saw a decline in jobs in the past 12 months as they struggled with a tough year for auto sales.
The eight largest automakers with operations here reported a 1% decline in local workers to 3,657 people, according to this week’s Business Journal list, which ranks companies by OC employment.
The automakers do sales and marketing and other corporate work here. They also design, research and develop vehicles locally.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. topped the list again and posted a 1% gain to 1,200 local workers.
The company’s Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. was flat at 917 workers. Subsidiary Kia Motors America Inc. of Irvine added 13 people for 283 workers.
Like other automakers, Hyundai is seeing U.S. sales drop amid a tough auto market here. In January, Hyundai’s sales were down 23% from a year earlier to 21,452 vehicles. For 2007, sales were up 2.5% to 467,009 autos, but below a target of 500,000, which Hyundai again is pushing for this year.
The automaker and sister company Kia have been in flux for the past few years. Hyundai’s South Korean executives are dissatisfied with U.S. sales, leading to several changes in management.
Recent departures: Kia Motors America chief executive Len Hunt and Ian Beavis, vice president of marketing. Hunt joined Kia in 2005, replacing Peter Butterfield, who was fired.
South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp. President Byung Mo Ahn now has taken over as chairman and group chief executive for Kia Motors America and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. He works out of the Irvine headquarters. Kia is building a plant in Georgia that’s expected to open next year.
For 2007, Kia sold 305,473 autos in the U.S., up 4%.
At Hyundai Motor America, Steve Wilhite recently resigned as chief operating officer and head of sales and marketing. Wilhite was there for about a year.
Ford Drops
Ford Motor Co. dropped from No. 2 on the list last year to No. 6 this time around. Ford is continuing to cut jobs as part of its turnaround efforts.
It cut its local workforce by 24% in the past year to 379 workers. Ford sales for 2007 were down 12% to 2.6 million autos.
In January, Toyota Motor Corp. surpassed Ford in sales to become the No. 2 U.S. automaker after General Motors Corp.
Ford’s Premier Automotive Group has its U.S. base in Irvine and makes up the bulk of its operations here. Premier Automotive includes Volvo Cars of North America LLC, Land Rover North America, Jaguar Cars North America and Ford’s minority stake in Aston Martin.
Smaller Workforce
Premier had a pre-tax profit of $504 million in 2007, versus a loss of $344 million in 2006.
Ford’s local workforce could dwindle even more.
Ford is expected to sell Premier’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands to India’s Tata Group for as much as $2 billion, according to reports. Ford could continue to supply engines for the vehicles.
Jaguar has been a drag on Ford sales. For 2007, the British luxury brand was down 24% to 15,683 cars sold.
Land Rover 2007 sales, on the other hand, were a record 49,550, up from 47,774 in 2006. Both brands had an estimated 36 workers each in OC.
As for Volvo, it saw North American sales fall 8% in 2007, with a total of 106,213 autos sold.
Volvo shrunk its local workforce by 12% to 110 workers.
Ford has a handful workers related to Aston Martin in OC. The automaker sold its controlling stake in Aston Martin last year for $931 million to Primrose Cove Ltd., a holding company that consists of Kuwaiti companies, Texas banker John Sinders and David Richards, principal of Ford Performance Racing, a race team.
Employment at Ford’s other business here,sales and marketing for Lincoln-Mercury,was down 24% to 37 workers.
Two Japanese automakers, No. 2 Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations and No. 3 Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., were flat in local employment.
But sales are growing at the two.
Mazda, part of Mazda Motor Corp., reported its highest January sales since 1994, according to the company. Mazda’s sales rose to 21,212 vehicles, a 10% increase from a year earlier. Ford has a stake in Mazda.
Mazda attributed sales growth in part to its trucks and the Mazda 6, a midsize sedan. Sales of the Mazda 6 were up 27% to 6,333 cars.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors, the U.S. arm of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motor Co., had an estimated 487 workers.
Mitsubishi sales for 2007 rose 9% to 128,993 vehicles, thanks to new autos such as the Outlander and Lancer. The company is targeting sales of 130,000 autos this year.
No. 5 Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., part of Toyota Motor Corp., also had flat employment at 470 workers. Japan’s top automaker houses several units in OC, including Calty, where it develops concept cars and does other research and design work, a Lexus Western area office and a sales office.
