Toyota cut 500 employees in Cologne
December 4, 2009 by Negative Camber
Filed under People & Events, Top Story
F1B’s Executive Editor in Europe, Mark Hallam, has indeed verified that Toyota F1 based in Cologne Germany has officially parted ways with 500 employees. According to news agency DPA, the team has officially released 500 employees with 150 staying with Toyota to work on other racing initiatives.
With a partial salary and benefits for the next year, some of the most technically skilled people in the industry are now walking the streets seeking employment.
There is one upside to Germany’s employment woes as it pertains to F1; BMW F1 was purchased and several jobs were saved. The glut of technical people in the F1 market will also be a ripe season for new teams looking for highly skilled employees to supplement their small staffs. Here is the DPA article:
Cologne, Germany (dpa) – The racing development arm of Japanese
carmaker Toyota has cut 500 jobs at its headquarters in Cologne,
following the firm’s withdrawal from Formula 1 competition, it
emerged Friday.Marketing director Andy Fuchs told the German Press Agency dpa
that the remaining 150 employees at the world-class racing test-and-
development facility would continue with the firm’s other projects.Toyota announced in November that due to globally difficult
circumstances for the car industry – and amid turbulence in the
racing world – it would not be competing in the 2010 world
championship.The withdrawal “hit us like a bomb” said Fuchs.
The Cologne centre had been responsible for the complete
development of Toyota’s F1 racing cars.Fuchs said the remaining staff would continue to develop
sport upgrade kits for Toyota and Lexus models, as well as racing
cars for other competitive series.The affected employees, mostly highly-trained engineers from some
30 countries, are to be given redundancy payments and re-training
benefits, and will receive partial salaries for up to one year.
For their sake, let us hope that employment is quick to find and that they are taken care of in the mean time by a sympathetic Toyota. From what I know of Toyota, their family spirit and commitment to their employees is a hallmark and this is surely a painful situation for them.
Loading ...
Horrible news. But I do hear good things regarding their after sales service of their ex-employees.
Man, this is really unfortunate. My thoughts and prayers are with them and their families in this rough time – I really hope that having “engineer for Toyota F1″ is a good reflection on them on their resume. Guess a top seat on a podium would have made it mean more, eh?
Last I heard Toyota was looking to sell their car, operations, team, grid spot, and Kobe … no one took them seriously so they backed out and ex-BMW got their spot (sucks). Now the whole lot is up for sale individually: they are sitting on plans for a 2010 car, they still own their buildings/equipment, and most of their team are now unemployed. Will have to see if Kobe will be allowed to drive for another team or if he’ll be without a seat next year.
I wonder what the cost would have been to just run the 2010 season with some cutbacks as opposed to cutting the whole program. The worst part – with the team being disbanded the hopes for a return in 2011/2012 looks to be even less likely.