NEW YORK, July 28, 2008
GM To Slash Production Of Trucks, SUVs
With Lower Consumer Demand For Larger Vehicles, Automaker Eliminates Shifts At Two Plants
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(AP)
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Fast Facts GM Moves General Motors announces cuts to salaried jobs, production, dividend to raise turnaround cash.
GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the Detroit-based automaker will achieve the cuts by eliminating one shift each at its Moraine, Ohio, and Shreveport, La., plants. Most of the cuts will affect production of trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The Moraine plant makes the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Ranier, Isuzu Ascender, Saab 9-7x midsize SUVs, while the Shreveport plant currently produces the GMC Canyon, Chevrolet Colorado and Hummer H3.
The cuts bring GM's total production cuts to just under the 300,000 units company officials had hoped to cut this year, Sapienza said.
GM also is looking at the possibility of idling production at other truck and SUV plants later this year to further align its offerings with consumer demand, he said.
Record-high gas prices and a weak overall economy have led to a steep drop in U.S. sales of trucks and SUVs this year, as consumers have opted for small, more fuel-efficient passenger cars or put off buying new vehicles all together.
GM's U.S. sales were down about 16 percent for the first half of this year, largely as a result of a plunge in truck sales, and it's not the only automaker facing lower demand.
Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp., which outsold GM by 277,532 vehicles worldwide in the first six months of this year, cut its global sales forecast earlier Monday by 350,000 vehicles to 9.5 million, blaming sluggish North American sales.
Toyota also is shifting production from SUVs and trucks to smaller models. It said earlier this month that it plans to shut down truck and SUV production at its U.S. plants for three months starting in August, and it will start building the Prius hybrid in the U.S. for the first time in 2010.
GM shares fell 42 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $11.48 in midday trading.
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- Have any of you noticed anything odd on the highways now? I see people flipping-off those who are driving Hummers and other big SUV''s. I never saw this before, but when I read that there is a lot of anger towards those who own gas-guzzlers - I couldn''t help but wonder if this is what is happening now. Scary to think people are THAT upset. Shouldn''t the "revenge" come by knowing those Hummer owners are paying HUGE amounts to fill up their tanks? Let''s get this problem under control folks... No need to flip-off drivers!
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- I am not at all surprised to learn that GM (and others) are scaling back on their gas-guzzling models. This should have happened YEARS and YEARS ago. Toyota and other Japanese makers got it right the first time and they are now laughing at us as they can not make enough Prius'' and Civic Hybrids to suit our newly-found desire to save gas and money. Will American''s ever grow up and smarten up?
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- If advances in auto manufacturing had followed the principles of the computer industry, the price of cars would have gone down while their quality had gone up.
The fly in the auto industry ointment? Union workers were being paid wages and benefits that non-union college graduates could not obtain. The result was that this no-competition sector of labor has priced themselves out of job and America out of affordable quality vehicles. America''s answer?-Tax the heck out of foreign imports thus keeping high priced labor in business. Questioning this practice would be political suicide and labeled as un-American.
The result is that American business now goes to countries where labor is affordable.
The real problem in this country is prostitution-the pimps in Washington are giving their "Johns" (constituents) anything they want with the promise there will be no consequences for their fiscal immorality-even if it bankrupts this nation. - Reply to this comment
- i have a better suggestion - stop building any gm vehicles. they are shi-tty and overpriced. the japanese car builders are laughing at us...incl me. i have been driving hondas, toyotas, and an audi (i know its german - )
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- I find it so amazing that so few of you wasteful SUV and Truck owners refuse to admit that is was your own s''elf-centered waste it now attitude'' that has us in such a rediculous position of dependancy on oil for transportation. This is not the fault of Reagen, Clinton or any other President, it is your fault for being dependent on a vehicle that cannot got 10 MPG for each trip to the store for one item. You are wasteful and now it is biting you in the A**. STOP POINTING FINGRS AT OTHERS AND START CONSERVING.
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- If GM made home stereo electronics...
...they would have just realized that there was no effective/efficient way to buy 8-track tapes for their players. - Reply to this comment
- If GM made clothes...
...they would have just realized that bell-bottom pants have gone out of style! - Reply to this comment
- BC_Kelly wrote
We wanted, and got, this American Car Culture of Big Cars/Trucks/SUVs, traffic jams, pollution, and high gas prices - AND the economic insanity it brought.
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Exactly right. Why didn''t Clinton do anything to stop our country from going back to dependency on Middle East oil?
How many alternative energy sources were developed during the Clinton years, back when we had THE MONEY TO DEVELOP THEM??? - Reply to this comment
- whitemale08 wrote
I hate what Ronald Reagan has done to our economy.
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Reagan was elected TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO. And you''re STILL blaming things on him?
But when we try to blame things on Clinton...
Clinton had eight years to fix whatever you think Reagan did wrong. SO BLAME CLINTON FOR NOT FIXING IT. - Reply to this comment
- Unfortunately, we have to nationalize our automoible industry because it''s our "machine tool industry" and it''s too vital in the neccessary rebuilding of America.
If we don''t then say hello to your new boss Mr. Honda. - Reply to this comment
- I hate what Ronald Reagan has done to our economy.
By him busting up unions and sending high paying manufacturing workers from the 70''s and 80''s into the big box retail industry like WalMart, is it no surprise that people can''t afford SUV''s or Pick Up trucks in general.
How long can you indebt a serf by car payments? Is it 5 years, 6 years, 7 years, I heard even notes as long as 8 years; that''s rediculous. Or they will say "lease it" which is another scam.
Once George W. finishes what Ronald Reagan started in the "hollowing out" of America, we will all work for Toyota and make $6.55 an hr for the rest of our lives.
Thanks George, you really love us Americans. - Reply to this comment
- A classic example of corporate "America" mentality...
...while the executives finally got done determining their bonuses, they finally realized that nobody wanted the krap they were producing. Several dozen meetings later, they realized they should "cut back" their production due to lower demand... (that began years ago).
Yep, our government has precipitated the demise of America, but if left to corporate "America"... that demise would have happened a lot sooner! - Reply to this comment
- GM needs sack their CEO - Rick Wagoner - who has been in charge since 1998. The red ink coming out of Detroit looks like Niagara Falls.
He discontinued the electric car EV1 after 1999 and killed it in 2003. Wagoner went for big SUVs and pickups instead. Great move, Rick!
If there ever was a good reason to nationalize GM and Ford, it is Mr. Rick Wagoner. - Reply to this comment
