Critical Shifts:
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Severe Regional Technician Deficit: California dealerships are currently grappling with a deficit of roughly 5,000 automotive technicians, making structured pipeline development an urgent operational priority across both franchise and independent facilities.
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Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Workforce Pipelines: Resolving long-term labor shortages requires direct alignment between high school and college educators, technical school administrators, fixed ops leaders, independent repair shop owners, and regulatory agencies.
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Focus on Retention, Compliance, and Hands-On Upskilling: Beyond basic recruitment, industry sustainability depends on modernizing classroom curricula around emerging vehicle technologies, implementing structured apprenticeships, improving shop culture, and streamlining regulatory compliance.
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Automotive educators, technical school administrators and employers vested in the quest to strengthen California’s automotive education are invited to a conference in October to discuss strategies for creating a strong pipeline of well-prepared future workers.
The 2026 conference theme is Shifting Gears: Preparing for the Next Era of Automotive. It occurs as California dealerships face a shortage of about 5,000 automotive technicians.
The conference is October 9-10 and hosted by the California Automotive Foundation. It follows a larger-than-expected inaugural conference in 2025 – attended by more than 200 people. The primary portion of the 2026 conference will be on October 9 at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside. October 10 will be dedicated to supplemental training at Palomar College in nearby San Marcos.
“The high turnout last year, and the feedback following that event, made clear that there is a strong need among stakeholders to meet regularly,” said Kim McPhaul, president of the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) Foundation. “This conference brings together virtually anyone who has a stake in teaching and developing automotive workers in California.”
McPhaul said attendees will include automotive educators from the state’s high schools and colleges, administrators for career technical education, fixed ops leadership, independent repair shop owners, and representatives of automotive regulatory agencies.
The conference is in partnership with the CNCDA Foundation, the Automotive Service Councils Educational Foundation, SDTechs, and Mobilize Summit.
- For those in the classroom or managing technicians, insights will be shared on improving employee retention, strengthening shop culture, staying ahead with hands-on training, emerging technology, and strategies to strengthen instruction and administration.
- For those who are new or working with limited resources, solutions and fresh ideas will be shared through a strong network of experts.
- Industry experts will offer advice on staying compliant without sacrificing the customer experience.
- Leaders in automotive education, industry and government will work with attendees to tackle workforce challenges.
- School administrators and instructors will have opportunities to unlock resources for their students through information on scholarships, internships, and apprenticeships. Our goal is to ensure every student is prepared to thrive in a rapidly evolving industry.
To register and for sponsorship opportunities, visit www.caautotechalliance.org.
