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More signs of a slumping U.S. Auto Industry...

Quote:

issan cuts production at two plants

manufacturing.net - october 21, 2008

tokyo (ap) -- nissan motor co. Said tuesday it would cut auto production at its two domestic plants due to sluggish demand in the united states.

Japan's third-biggest automaker will slash output by 28,000 units, mostly infiniti luxury models, at its factory in tochigi, north of tokyo, nissan spokeswoman ikue matsuura said. The production cut would last five months starting from november, she said.

"our sales in the united states remained sluggish. We must adjust our output accordingly," the spokeswoman said.

Nissan also planned to cut production by 37,000 units, mostly the sport utility vehicles murano and rogue, at its plant in fukuoka, southern japan, from november to march next year, matsuura said.

Nissan's sales in the united states dropped 37 percent year-on-year in september due to slowing demand as american consumers tightened their purse strings amid the deepening financial crisis.

The asahi daily said tuesday nissan would slash the number of temporary workers at its domestic factories to cope with the poor u.s. Sales. The spokeswoman declined to confirm the report.

Last week nissan said it was laying off 1,680 workers in spain due to weak demand.

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Quote:

Ford Scales Back Production In Germany

Manufacturing.Net - October 21, 2008

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Ford Motor Company Inc. said Monday that it would curb engine production at a German plant for five weeks and put 820 employees there on part-time schedules because of slow demand in the U.S.

The measures at the Cologne plant are to take effect Nov. 3 and involve production of 4-liter V6 engines for export to the U.S., said Bernd Meier, a Ford spokesman.

The Cologne plant employs a total of 17,300 people, but the company said production there of the Fiesta and Fusion models would not be affected.

In 2007, the plant built more than 264,000 V6 engines for export to the U.S. for the Ford Explorer, Ranger and Mustang. The engine is also delivered to Land Rover for some of its models.

Earlier this month, Ford said it would curb production and lay off 204 part-time workers at its Saarlouis plant in western Germany, where it produces the Focus, C-Max and Cougar.

Several other European auto companies recently have announced production cutbacks.

Earlier this month BMW AG, Daimler AG, General Motors Corp. subsidiary Adam Opel AG all said they were cutting production in Germany, and GM said its other subsidiaries in Europe were also affected.

Italy's Fiat and Renault of France also said they would slow production.

Ford shares fell 2 cents to $2.41 in midday trading.

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Quote:

Chrysler Plant In Ontario Rotating Layoffs

Manufacturing.Net - October 20, 2008

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) -- Chrysler will lay off workers on one shift at its Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant on a rotating basis over the next three weeks.

The automaker says it will eliminate the afternoon shift for the first two weeks, then lay off the midnight shift in the third week.

The assembly plant produces minivans and has about 5,000 workers, with between 1,200 and 1,500 workers per shift.

Chrysler LLC says it will re-evaluate the situation after three weeks, but the local union president says he fears the layoffs will be extended.

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Quote:

BMW To Lay Off Hundreds Of Temp Workers

Manufacturing.Net - October 17, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- More than 500 temporary workers at BMW's South Carolina plant will likely lose their jobs at the end of the year because the ailing economy in the United States has hurt sales for the German automaker.

The exact number of layoffs hasn't been determined, but the company that provides the workers for the plant said it has told the state up to 733 layoffs are possible, and the final number should be above 500 employees, said Randy Hatcher, president of staffing company MAU.

Most of the workers are on BMW's production line, although some employees in logistics also will be affected, Hatcher said Friday.

BMW uses temporary workers to handle fluctuations in production levels, Hatcher said.

About 5,400 workers at the plant are employed by BMW, while others are hired by contractors.

BMW did not return several messages seeking comment on the layoffs.

The employees that could be let go were sent letters last week saying the layoffs will happen after the plant shuts down for the year on Dec. 19, and the workers will be paid through the Christmas holidays, Hatcher said.

"There's no good way to deliver bad news, but to keep people employed through the Christmas holidays is at least some good news," Hatcher said.

MAU will try to find other jobs for the workers, and Hatcher hopes BMW will hire them back either when the economy improves or the automaker opens a $750 million expansion its currently building at its plant near Spartanburg

BMW has not been immune to the slump in auto sales caused by the downturn in the economy. U.S. sales for the automaker plunged nearly 30 percent in September when compared to the same month last year, and sales for the first nine months of this year are down almost 10 percent compared to the same period in 2007, said Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst with the consulting company Global Insight.

The vehicles made at the South Carolina plant have taken an even bigger hit. Sales for the Z4 coupe are off by a third this year and two-thirds in September, while sales of the X5 sports utility vehicle have been flat, Bragman said.

People are looking to buy less expensive cars, and some interested in buying a BMW may not be able to get loans, Bragman said.

"Consumer confidence has been shaken on a national level and people are starting to look at purchasing lower end items when they can," Bragman said.

About three-quarters of the vehicles being manufactured by BMW are being shipped overseas, a strong indication of problems in the U.S. market.

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Feeling positive Mike?;) Nissan's really not all that bad off, their Altima and Sentra are selling well. The Titan and Armada are both at the end of their lifecycle, it's already been announced that there won't be another Titan.

As for the US makers......not so good. GM is the closest to turning things around, their cars are at least competitive in many categories. Unfortunately, I don't know how any of the "big" three can overcome the huge burden of union pay, benefits, and pension funds.

Nissan is almost 50% owned by Renault. (Renault-Nissan sells almost 10% of the entire world's auto production.) They are doing OK at the moment in Europe, Russia, S. Korea.

Infiniti is slow, as are the larger (SUV, Trucks) vehicles.

R-N is talking to Cerberus (owns Chrysler) about buying Jeep. GM is talking to them about buying the rest of the company.
This will mean closing a BUNCH of dealerships.

"GM is the closest to turning things around, their cars are at least competitive in many categories."

GM, Ford and Chrysler have lost a significant portion of several generations of car buyers. Many even semi-informed buyers under the age of 40 will no longer consider them at all. If they were given a big three car they would simply sell it and buy a Subaru, Honda, Mini, etc. It doesn't matter if the current cars being produced are any good or not; the brands are now tarnished by the past crap compounded by the corporate behavior of not standing behind them. For example: the millions of failed GM head gaskets that had to be replaced out of warranty. An engine head gasket is not rocket engineering but GM managed to screw them up by value engineering every last cent out of them.

I bet GM now wishes it had some of the money Roger Smith and his ilk wasted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Sims (Post 4252959)

google nissan v6 headgaskets ! a freind of mine had his done @ 40k and 70k

he now drives a ford!

I would still consider an American product. I had a Ford Ranger that gave me 130,000 trouble free miles. My wife had a Taurus, and it was a great car (and a good deal to boot).

Friends just picked up a Ford Edge as their family hauler to replace their aging Subaru. He drives a Mercedes E series, and they also have an Nissan mini-van of some kind. He's a serious car guy, so I assume he researched the heck out of it.

All is not lost (yet....)

Jim is right, the big 3 have managed to alienate a LOT of buyers. To get those buyers back, they will need to build better cars for less money, consistently. It's how the Japanese made such inroads into the US market, and how the Koreans are finding success today. Draw the customers in with the price, then sell them with a superior product.

To their advantage, they do still have the made in America slant. Some people do still care about such things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd74 (Post 4251925)

Kerkorian is selling his Ford shares...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/22auto.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Quote:

Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said Tuesday that Washington should be prepared to help the auto industry in the same way it rescued the banking industry.

We will need help switching production to electric cars, and not just the 125 million Tesla Motors was promised.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-to-receive-10m-federal-grant-for-plug-in-hybrid-development.html

Quote:

Ford Motor Company is set to receive a $10 million grant from the United States Department of Energy to be spent on plug-in hybrid research and development. The government is funding half of Ford’s three-year plug-in development and demonstration program that currently has 20 plug-in hybrid vehicles on test.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/tesla-motors-zaps-another-ceo-and-lays-off-staff/?scp=1&sq=Tesla%20Motors&st=cse

Quote:

Now, Tesla will wait for a low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, which the company cannot use until it passes an environmental review of the new San Jose headquarters and factory.