« Honda to Make Solar Cells for Homes & Automobiles | Main | Broadband over electricity lines takes of »
December 19, 2005
Asian automakers sets up R&D facilities in US; hires US engineers
Asian automakers have started hiring research and development staff by setting up development centers in key locations in North America where massive layoffs are taking place by US automakers.
Automakers from Toyota Motor Corp. to Nissan Motor Co. to Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia Motors Corp., along with automotive suppliers from Japan and Germany, are rushing to Michigan to take advantage of the area's high concentration of automotive engineering talent.
Toyota is pursuing a growth strategy that could propel it past General Manager to become the world's No. 1 automaker, nearly 40 percent of the company's 20,000 engineers in Japan are contractors from agencies and "guest engineers" from suppliers.
Toyota has to fill gaps in its midcareer engineering population that resulted from hiring freezes the company instituted in the mid- 1990s in the wake of a severe economic slowdown.
Posted by admin at December 19, 2005 01:40 AM