Musk Says Tesla Will Make Hiring Ex-NUMMI Workers a Priority
By John O'Dell May 24, 2010
A question that's been lingering since Tesla Motors and Toyota Motor Corp. announced a stunning new partnership that will see the former New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. auto assembly plant in Norhern California used to produce Tesla- and Toyota-branded electric vehicles is what happens to the 4,700 employees let go when the plant was closed last month?
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO (left), answered the question during the taping Monday afternoon of a Southern California public radio program, 'Which Way L.A.?" that aired at 7 p.m. - Pacific Daylight Time - Monday.
"It is always easier to hire from the neighborhood" than to recruit workers from out of the area, he said. And when the plant starts hiring, Musk added, "hiring former NUMMI workers is a priority for us."
Tesla -which is headquartered in San Carlos, Calif., just a few miles from the former NUMMI plant - already has hired a number of people who had worked at the factory when it was jointly operated by Toyota and General Motors Corp. (GM gave up its role in the plant when it filed for bankruptcy last year).
Musk said that he anticipates employment of about 1,000 people at the sprawling plant for the next few years, while the Tesla Model S electric sedan is being built, and that employment then should ratchet up to nearly 5,000 when both Tesla and Toyota begin making smaller, less expensive EVs there.
Musk was on the show as part of a discussion of the Tesla-Toyota deal that included its impact on the Southern California city of Downey, where Tesla had negotiated a factory location deal that was to have been announced the same day the automaker did its abrupt about face and joined forces with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif.
During the program, Downey city council member and former mayor Mario Guerra explained that he understood the business reasons for Tesla's decision but remained disappointed that the company didn't tell Downey what was going on until the last minute and that his city lost the chance to be home to the factory and the jobs it will create.
In the end, though, Musk apologized for letting the city down, and Guerra accepted.
We know about this because we were part of the program, offering our thoughts on whether the deal made good sense for Toyota and Tesla - the short answer is yes, it does, giving Toyota access to Tesla's battery and electric-drive control systems expertise and Tesla access to a big, nearby and largely equipped auto factory and a trained workforce to run it.
Additionally, of course, Tesla and Toyota will share engineering, design and development expertise as they jointly develop EVs.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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