Subaru's rapid growth spurs need for technicians

NEW YORK — Amid a chronic shortage of dealership service technicians, record new-vehicle sales could make Subaru the neediest brand of all. In response, the automaker is stepping up its already active support for entry-level tech training programs.

"We have 6,677 techs" at Subaru's 631 U.S. dealerships, says Mike Campbell, vice president of service and quality for Subaru of America. "We need to double that in the next three to four years."

Subaru is the only mainstream auto brand that grew during the Great Recession, putting together 10 straight years of U.S. sales records as of 2018. Subaru sold 680,135 new vehicles last year in the United States, up 5 percent from 2017.

As a result of that growth, Subaru's U.S. vehicles in operation have more than doubled in the past six years, to about 3.5 million, the company says. By 2024, Subaru expects to have more than 5 million vehicles in operation.

All automotive brands — even those that aren't growing as fast as Subaru — face a critical need for dealership technicians, the National Automobile Dealers Association says. NADA is making a priority of helping would-be technicians find training.

About 39,000 new auto technicians graduate from U.S. technical colleges and training programs each year, NADA estimates. But it projects that new-vehicle dealerships must replace nearly 76,000 technicians each year just to keep up with retirements, defections to other industries and growing demand for service.

Subaru is especially active in technician development. Its Subaru University program works with about 4,360 students at 265 U.S. technical schools, including high schools and two- and four-year colleges, the automaker says.

Thanks in part to Subaru University and to internships at dealerships that the company helps arrange, U.S. Subaru dealerships hired 2,232 new techs last year, Campbell says. But because of attrition, Subaru had a net increase of 613 technicians in 2018 from the previous year. The automaker seeks to increase its dealership work force to more than 13,000 technicians by 2024.

"We've got our work cut out for us, but we are confident," Ken Benson, training field operations manager for Subaru of America, told Automotive News.
Aside from the growth in new-vehicle sales, service departments of Subaru dealerships also must cope with a "recall frenzy" affecting all major brands, making available talent scarce, says Rick DeSilva Jr., part owner of Liberty Subaru in Emerson, N.J.

"Things that a couple of years ago would not have been a recall are now a recall, because the factories are so sensitive," he says.

Subaru of America was "ahead of the curve" in anticipating the growing need for technicians, DeSilva says. He and two service managers recently visited a nearby community college to talk up dealership technician jobs with students who are in training, some of it sponsored by Subaru.
"It's really a different job from what people think it is," he says. "I've got a couple of guys making six figures [as technicians]. It's a lot of electronics, a lot of work with computers."
Subaru says it outperforms the industry average in limiting technician attrition. About one-fourth of dealership technicians leave their jobs each year, but in 2018, attrition for the Subaru of America network was 19 percent. Campbell says the automaker wants to reduce that to 17 percent.

"We think we can do better," he says.

To cut down on required travel for dealerships to send their technicians to company training facilities, Subaru is adding three U.S. training centers this year, increasing its total to 15. Independent Subaru distributors operate three additional centers in the Northeast.

The three new Subaru of America centers are in Seattle; Charlotte, N.C.; and Kansas City, Mo. The Seattle location is a particular priority, Campbell says, because Subaru dealerships compete with the high-tech industry in the Pacific Northwest for computer-savvy technicians.

At an industry event this spring, Campbell said Subaru of America plans to add a few more dealerships, increasing its U.S. total to "no more than 650" stores.

That increase should help with service coverage, he said.

The brand's traditional strongholds are the Northeast, Rocky Mountain states and Pacific Northwest. But much of its growth in the past decade has come in regions outside the snowbelt.

Campbell addressed an enthusiastic audience at this year's National Automotive Technology Competition, an event in New York for high school students who are training to become technicians.

"We need young people," Campbell told the students. "The skill you are learning is in very high demand. The need is acute and real."