With total new vehicle sales in the U.S. topping $995 billion, dealerships with more than 300 million repair orders, and with service and parts sales of nearly $110 billion, the demand for talented and qualified automotive technicians continues to increase. To address this growing need, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) and Gulf States Toyota (GST) announced today at an event that they are partnering with Tarrant County College (TCC) to bring state-of-the-art automotive training through the Toyota Technician Training and Education Network (T-TEN) to Fort Worth. The program will start with a cohort of 22 students and is scheduled to start in the fall of 2018.
“This partnership is a huge win for Tarrant County College and all of North Texas,” said Dr. Peter Jordan, president of Tarrant County College South Campus. “It means TCC faculty are in a position to offer another dimension to the automotive technology curriculum we deliver. Students will have the opportunity to acquire additional skills and national certification in a burgeoning industry; increasing their employ ability and earning potential. For Toyota and Lexus, this partnership creates a ready pool of highly skilled potential employees to meet growing workforce demands.”
T-TEN was launched in 1986 to provide a strong pipeline of talented, career-minded, highly trained service technicians for Toyota and Lexus dealerships. The program typically offers a class size of 20 to 25 students per year and leverages Toyota’s industry-leading training with both a classroom and hands-on laboratory setting over a period of 24 months. In order to enter the program, students must demonstrate a passion for the career and an aptitude to learn the skills necessary to perform as a service bay technician. The training also includes a paid internship experience for students at a local dealership as they pursue certifications for Toyota and Lexus vehicles. T-TEN has placed thousands of certified technicians in the service departments of nearly 1,500 dealerships around the country.
“T-TEN was conceived more than 30 years ago to ensure our dealers have a source of highly-trained, entry-level technicians and to support America’s Career and Technical education system,” said Chris Nielsen, executive vice president of product support, and chief quality officer of Toyota Motor North America. “Over 11,000 graduates have started their career through T-TEN, and, today, TCC joins a community of 37 schools providing industry-leading and occupationally-aligned automotive training.”
The event held on Monday to announce the new program was attended by executives from TMNA, GST, TCC, and other state and local dignitaries, including U.S. Representative Marc Veasey. At the event, it was announced that Toyota has already provided 12 training vehicles and plans to provide an additional 12 vehicles over the next 18 months for the program, allowing students access to modern vehicle technology. The TCC program is the fifth school in the region and its graduates are destined to be placed where GST and Lexus Southern dealers are located in a five state region that includes Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
“Our mission, in partnership with Toyota dealers, is to support programs that create tomorrow’s Toyota technician, acknowledging that a skills gap truly exists and it’s a challenge we have to overcome,” said Jeff Parent, the president of Gulf States Toyota. “Partnering with TCC to bring this curriculum to Fort Worth is one way to overcome that challenge, and we want to help interested, qualified students pursue a career in the technical field by providing them with the resources and skill set that Toyota believes are essential for success.”
