The leaders of the North American auto industry are older, have spent slightly less time in their current job and with their current firm on average than they had five years ago.
That's according to data presented at the Management Briefing Seminars on Thursday by Sean McAlinden, the chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research.

A CAR analysis based on the Automotive News guide to industry executives shows that the average age of 234 industry executives is 51.9 -- up from 51.0 in 2003. CEOs are the oldest senior auto executives, with an average age of 56.1.

Those executives are retiring in record numbers as they age. And the industry will have to replace them.

"I think the turnover we've seen in this decade exceeds that we've seen in previous decades by a considerable percentage," McAlinden said. "In fact, within a few years, for the domestic firms, it may approach eighty to ninety percent."

Only half of North American automaker executives were still at the same company they were at in 2003 in 2008. Just over one-fifth have moved to other firms, while 27.4 percent had retired. Many of those who went to other firms had left the industry, McAlinden said.

In Europe, where the population is aging faster and executives tend to be younger, turnover rates are much lower. Two-thirds of all automaker executives were still at the same firm in 2008 that they were at in 2003. Only 12.3 percent had retired. The rest had changed companies.

Turnover was highest among the ranks of upper management, according to CAR research. Fifty-two percent of upper management executives were no longer at the same company in 2008 that they were at in 2003. About half had retired, while the other half had moved to another company.

McAlinden's data highlighted other industry trends.

Supplier CEOs stay in their jobs longer than their higher-profile counterparts at automakers. At suppliers, the average CEO had been in his or her current job for 5.1 years. At automakers, that number was 2.8. Supplier CEOs also tend to have spent more time -- an average of 21.7 years -- at their current firm than automaker CEOs.

Vice presidents of experience

CAR's data suggests that companies are recruiting more top executives from outside their firms.

• Automaker CEOs:

Average time in job: 2.8 years

Average years with firm: 17.8

• Automaker senior vice presidents:

Average time in job: 3.4 years

Average years with firm: 21.3

• Automaker group vice presidents:

Average time in job: 2.2 years

Average years with firm: 20.4 years