FORT WORTH, Texas, May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.
![(L-R) Chris Nielsen, Toyota Executive VP, signing the official partnership agreement with Tarrant County College Chancellor Eugene V. Giovannini (L-R) Chris Nielsen, Toyota Executive VP, signing the official partnership agreement with Tarrant County College Chancellor Eugene V. Giovannini](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/509262/Toyota_Motor_North_America_Tarrant_County_College.jpg)
"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 employability 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 skillset that Toyota believes
are essential for success."
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in
the U.S. and North America for 60
years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation
mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time,
Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have
contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of
more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14
manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than
46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North
American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7
million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016 – and
about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years
are still on the road today.
Toyota partners with community, civic, academic, and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We share company resources and extensive
know-how to support non-profits to help expand their ability to
assist more people move more places. For more information about
Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
About Tarrant County
College
Tarrant County College is a
public two-year college with campuses in Fort Worth and surrounding communities. TCC is
one of the 20 largest higher education institutions in the United States based on annual enrollment,
with more than 100,000 students in academic, career training and
noncredit Community & lndustry Education programs. The College
offers both on-campus and online learning, through six campuses
throughout Tarrant County.
Visit tccd.edu for more information.
Media Contacts:
Tarrant County College
Reginald Lewis
817-515-1889
Reginald.Lewis@tccd.edu
Toyota Motor North America
Aaron Fowles
469-292-1097
Aaron.Fowles@toyota.com
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America