US: GM and Ford to cut North American production from January

Tuesday, December 04, 2007,

Tags: Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Manufacturing, OEM Strategy.

AutomotiveWorld.com

According to The Detroit News, both General Motors and Ford plan to cut vehicle production at various North American plants in the first quarter of 2008 due to forecasts for ongoing lower sales in the US market.

The announcements come after monthly sales figures showed that the overall US new vehicle market fell by 1.6% in November. Although Ford bucked the trend, with sales for its brands rising by 0.6%, GM suffered a 11% decline and Chrysler LLC's sales dipped 2.1%.

Chrysler is yet to announce production cuts, "but next year looks pretty tough," its media spokesman Jason Vines noted. "We'll be adjusting our schedule on a weekly basis."

Although the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based OEM suffered a fall in sales of its light trucks ranges, car sales were up 43%, thanks to strong performances from the facelifted Chrysler 300 series as well as the Dodge Charger and Avenger sedans.

Overall market sales of light trucks fell 7.4%, as consumers continued to shift to cars (up 5.5%) in November. The trend was helped by the introduction of the new Chevrolet Malibu and Honda Accord.

"The retail decline we experienced in November was entirely in various truck categories," said Mark LaNeve, head of GM's North American sales and marketing. "Almost the entire year-over-year decline can be attributed to full-size pickups and utilities."

Overall, the average annual selling pace for November equalled an annual market of 16.2 million cars and trucks, according to Autodata Corp.

For 2008, GM has revised its fourth-quarter production target upwards by 25,000 vehicles, to 1.025 million, but is cutting its first-quarter output by 113,000 units to 950,000 vehicles, an 11% reduction, year-on-year.

For the first quarter of 2008, Ford is planning to produce 685,000 vehicles in North America, a 7.4% fall year-on-year.