Car Production Up, Jobs Go South

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Bailing out the U.S. auto industry was all in the name of jobs, jobs, jobs, and the recent sales increases in new cars should have made a decent dent into the jobless rate. It just didn’t work out quite as expected. By the end of the year, J.D. Power expects that 11.8 million units will have been made in North America, up 38 percent from 8.5 million units in 2009. And where did the jobs go? They went mostly south.

According to J.D. Power, “Mexico is expected to post the strongest year-over-year increase, with production up nearly 50 percent to 2.2 million units.” Ironically, it is the American idol, the truck, that accounts for most of the Mexican increases. But aren’t Americans supposed to downsize? “The addition of the Ford Fiesta” also did light a fire under Mexican production, says J.D.Power.

Next in line for production increases: The Great White North. “Canadian production is expected to be up 39 percent to 2.1 million units,” says J.D.Power. Canada gained disproportionally from the return of the trucks.

According to latest available data, (courtesy of Automotive News [sub],) N.A. truck production is up 51 percent. That translates into 66 percent more trucks made in Mexico, 71 percent more trucks made in Canada, and only 44 percent more in the U.S.

Overall, the U.S. gains the least. “Volume in the U.S. is projected to be up 35 percent,” says Power. Be glad that the U.S. still leads in absolute numbers: 7.6 million units will have been produced in the U.S. by the end of the year, assuming a properly functioning crystal ball at J.D. Power. (The ball appears to be in good working order, the numbers cross-check with those provided by Automotive News [sub].)

By the end of November, North American production stood as follows (data brought to you by Automotive News [sub]: )

North America car and truck productionYTD through 11/27/2010YTD through 11/28/2009ChangeTotal U.S. car2,717,5452,098,58629%Total Canada car912,136739,68923%Total Mexico car133283490758247%Total North America car4962515374585732%Total U.S. truck4456291308631044%Total Canada truck102884260053371%Total Mexico truck78249847180166%Total North America truck6267631415864451%Total U.S.7173836518489638%Total Canada1940978134022245%Total Mexico2115332137938353%TOTAL NORTH AMERICA11230146790450142%

For those who still don’t believe the numbers, Automotive News [sub] provides a breakdown of production by North American plant. The list reminds us that that there is a CAMI truck pant in Ingersol, Ontario, a Ram truck plant in Saltillo, Mexico, a Dodge truck plant in Zoluca, Mexico, a Chrysler truck plant in Windsor, Ontario, a Ford F series truck plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, a Ford Econoline production in Oakville, Ontario, a Chevy truck production in Silao, Mexico, and so forth. Those who have doubts whether some of these should be counted as real trucks should express their anger to the DOT or the EPA.

Were you curious why sales go up, and GM continues to cut down its ranks of skilled trade workers, of which it has “several thousand” too many? Now you know at least a part of the story.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Telegraph Road Telegraph Road on Dec 17, 2010

    "a Ford F series truck plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico, a Ford Econoline production in Oakville, Ontario, " The autonews table is being misread--the products are above the assembly plant name, not below it.

  • The dude The dude on Dec 17, 2010

    The plant in Cuatitlan makes the Fiesta. The Econoline van is made in Avon Lake OH. Nice job getting your facts in order.

    • Telegraph Road Telegraph Road on Dec 18, 2010

      Dearborn was shocked to learn from TTAC that Cuautitlan switched over from making Fiestas to making F-150s. Cuautitlan should have at least informed us. ;-) But then again, maybe this mathematician from Dearborn is making one of those “I don’t like the numbers, therefore they must be wrong" mistakes.

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