The auto industry’s ongoing downturn played out at the local operations of automakers in the past 12 months.
The eight largest automakers with operations here reported an 11% decline in local workers to 3,047 people, according to this week’s Business Journal list, which ranks companies by Orange County employment.
Drops were more pronounced at individual automakers, with one, No. 6 Ford Motor Co., dropping by 63% to 140 local workers.
The employment tally for all the automakers would have been worse if not for No. 1 Hyundai Motor Co., which was estimated flat at 1,200 local workers.
Hyundai’s Numbers
Hyundai dominates the list, representing 40% of the jobs. The company held up longer than other automakers but fell in line in late 2008 with the industry’s 18% sales downturn for the year.
The automaker’s Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. and Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. actually added workers in 2008 before settling flat with recent layoffs.
Hyundai employs 980 people here. Kia employs an estimated 225 people.
Last month, Hyundai let go about 45 workers from its sales and marketing departments in an effort to cut costs.
For 2008, Hyundai’s U.S. auto sales were down 14% to 401,742 vehicles. For the year, Kia sales were down 10% to 273,297 vehicles.
In January, Hyundai and Kia reversed months of decline with Hyundai’s sales up 14% to 24,512 vehicles. Kia was up 3% to 22,096 vehicles sold.
Hyundai launched an incentive plan in late December that allows buyers to break contracts and return vehicles if they lose their jobs or incomes, which may have helped January sales.
“We got off to a quick start in January thanks to the rollout of our new Hyundai Assurance program,” said Dave Zuchowski, vice president of national sales at Hyundai.
Hyundai also has been more aggressive than other automakers in marketing its vehicles, even though it’s advertising spending is down from a year earlier.
The automaker has seen executive changes in the past two years.
Jong Eun Kim, Hyundai’s previous chief executive of American operations, returned to South Korea to assume a position at the automaker’s headquarters in November.
Kim was replaced by John Krafcik, previously vice president of product development and strategic planning, who took over as acting chief executive in Fountain Valley.
Another notable departure was Keith Duckworth, vice president of dealer affairs and an employee with the company for more than 20 years. He retired this year.
Hyundai and other automakers on the list do sales and marketing and other corporate work here. They also design, research and develop vehicles locally.
No. 3 Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., the U.S. arm of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was flat in local employment with an estimated 300 workers.
In January, Mitsubishi saw a new chief executive, Shinichi Kurihara, in Cypress.
Kurihara has had various assignments within Mitsubishi’s North American operations, including serving as senior vice president of product strategy in 2001.
Another departure was Daniel Kuhnert, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
He was replaced by John Koenig, a former Toyota Motor Corp. executive who joined the automaker in 2007.
Mitsubishi sales for 2008 fell 25% to 97,257 vehicles from a year earlier when the automaker posted a gain with new autos such as the Outlander sport utility vehicle and Lancer sedan.
Smaller Japanese automaker No. 5 Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. saw local employment drop 16% to 322 workers and some new faces in its executive ranks.
The automaker, part of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., cited a steep drop in demand for its crossovers and SUVs.
American Suzuki saw a 17% drop in sales for 2008 with 84,865 vehicles sold.
Last summer, Rick Suzuki, head of American Suzuki for a decade, was replaced by Kinji Saito, who had been executive general manager of global marketing in Japan.
Other departures include Mark Harano, the executive vice president in charge of automotive operations, who returned to Japan to oversee Asian markets, and Gary Akin, vice president of sales, who left last month.
Harano was replaced by Koichi Suzuki who previously headed the auto division through early 2007.
The automaker saw its January sales decline 48% to 3,655 vehicles.
No. 2 Irvine’s Mazda North American Operations fell an estimated 8% to 450 workers.
The automaker said last month it was letting go of 110 workers across the U.S., with most coming from Irvine.
Like Hyundai, Mazda has fared better than the industry for much of the past year,2008 sales fell 11% to 263,949 vehicles.
But a decline in the past six months resulted in the layoffs.
No. 4 Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. had flat employment of 475 people. Part of the industry’s top automaker, the U.S. arm of Toyota houses several units in OC, including Calty, where it develops concept cars and does other research and design work.
Ford’s Changes
Ford saw the biggest change on the list with the sale of nearly all its European brands.
The company had operated the U.S. base of its Premier Automotive Group of European brands in Irvine since 2001. The operation was gutted in the past year.
Premier Automotive originally included Land Rover North America Inc., Jaguar Cars North America, Volvo Cars of North America LLC and Ford’s former stake in Aston Martin.
Land Rover moved operations to New Jersey after last year’s sale of the business and sister company Jaguar to India’s Tata Motors Ltd.
Ford lost about 70 local jobs in the sale.
Ford’s remaining European brand, Volvo, moved its North American headquarters from Irvine to New Jersey last year. It went from 110 local workers here a year ago to 21 now.
Ford sold Aston Martin to investors in 2007.
Employment at Ford itself and the automaker’s Lincoln Mercury division also saw big declines.
Ford moved Lincoln Mercury’s headquarters here in the late 1990s to immerse the business in California’s more competitive auto market. It shifted the headquarters back to the Detroit area a few years ago.
