OC automakers stand to benefit from Toyota’s eventual headquarters move to Texas with a wave of worker talent expected to be released into the local market.
The pending move is expected to eventually affect some 5,000 workers, more than half of those based in the Torrance office of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Financial Services, which handle sales and marketing, and finance, respectively.
Experienced Candidates
That’s expected to swell the local labor pool with experienced industry candidates, particularly in the ranks of middle management or below.
“You’re going to see a lot of top-level executives, in terms of that management pool, go to Texas because they’re well into the cycle of their careers,” said Jim Park, chairman of Irvine-based consultancy Global Auto Systems Inc. “But middle management and down, they’re younger and may be looking to stay. They’re saying, ‘Do I make that leap of faith and move my family? Is it worth the disruption to pull my kids out of school?’ You’ll find a lot of professionals updating their resumes to see what’s available here, and you’ll find a lot of the local OC and L.A. markets absorbing a lot of good talent.”
The local market got a taste of that when Nissan North America Inc. switched its headquarters from Torrance to Tennessee in 2008, Park said.
Toyota announced its decision late last month to consolidate its North American headquarters operations in an eventual move to offices currently under construction in Plano. The automaker, whose parent is Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp., currently has separate North American headquarters for manufacturing, sales and marketing, and corporate operations. The headquarter operations beside Torrance are Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. in Erlanger, Ky., and Toyota Motor North America in New York.
The move is expected to take place over the next three years, beginning this summer with the transfer of some executives to Texas. The bulk of the moves are expected to occur in late 2016 or early 2017, when the company’s new campus is completed in Plano.
“Toyota, they train their executives, their managers well, and they’ll be valuable to a lot of companies,” Park said. “It will enable a lot of auto companies to … get rid of dead weight and replace them out or maybe (give them) more reason to replace them with other, new professionals.”
Fountain Valley-based Hyundai
Motor America Inc., Kia Motors America Inc. in Irvine, and Torrance-based American Honda Motor Co. could benefit the most from the potential new pool of talent.
“Certainly, for Hyundai and Kia, even though they’ve seen their market shares shrink year-on-year, they still have pretty large growth projections, so I think they’ll be open to looking, especially if it’s good talent,” Park said. “They’ll make the investment.”
Kia declined to comment for this story.
Hyundai spokesperson Chris Hosford said the company’s hiring plans are unaffected by the Toyota announcement.
Mazda, Mitsubishi
Smaller car companies, such as Mazda and Mitsubishi, might not have sales at a level that would require a need for more workers, Park said.
Mitsubishi and Mazda, however, said they’ll consider adding talent from Toyota in any case.
“Mitsubishi Motors North America is open to considering Toyota applicants for Mitsubishi Motors positions that align with qualifications and skill [sets] for any openings we may have,” a Mitsubishi spokesperson said, although he said there were not specific departments or positions the company was looking to fill.
Mazda spokesperson Nick Beard said the automaker is always looking to add talent to its headquarters staff but, like Mitsubishi, has no specific plans for new hires. He added that Mazda has no plans to actively recruit any Toyota workers.
