Toyota Turkey to recruit, European auto firms fire

ISTANBUL

As of the beginning of 2013 Toyota Turkey will hire 800 new employees bringing the total number to 3,200, the car maker’s local chief executive Orhan Özer says.

Toyota Turkey, the local producer of the Japanese cars, will recruit 800 new employees for a new C segment model to be assembled here, as global carmakers continue cutting jobs.

“As of the new year we will hire 800 new employees. Right now we have 2,400 employees. With the additional 800, we will have 3,200 employees. We also have 400 employees working through contracted firms. Therefore as of next year we will exceed 3,500 employees,” said Toyota Turkey’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Orhan Özer.

Meanwhile, U.S. automaker Ford said on Sept. 25 that it was planning to cut “several hundred” salaried positions from its workforce in Europe, but that all the cuts would be voluntary.

“The reductions will be achieved through a combination of voluntary Ford salaried staff separations and reductions in expenditure on agency workers and purchased services,” Ford Motor Co. said in a statement.

Ford called the cuts part of an ongoing program “to achieve greater efficiencies in all areas of the Ford of Europe business in the current business environment.”