WDET News
- Detroit Automakers Plan Job, Production Cuts
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Jun 23, 2008Automotive & BusinessWith gas prices skyrocketing and consumers purchasing smaller…more fuel-efficient vehicles…several of Detroit’s automakers are planning cuts in production…and jobs.
WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter has more…
For many years Detroit automakers relied on lucrative sales of big pickup truck and S-U-V’s.
But that was before the era of four dollar-a-gallon gasoline.
Now truck and SUV sales have almost skidded to a halt.
So General Motors officials say they will further reduce truck production during the second half of the year by about 170-thousand units.
At the same time the company will increase production of cars and vans by about 47-thousand.
In addition to the typical two-week shutdown period in July…G-M will also shut plants in four other locations for an extra week.
At the Ford Motor Company…the Dearborn-based automaker has seen a 14 percent decline in its truck sales.
So the company wants to shed as much as 15 percent of it’s salaried workforce.
Several hundred contract positions were eliminated earlier this month…with several more rounds of job cuts likely in the next few weeks.