GM, Ford Scrimp And Save
In their best-case scenario, Ford and GM would already be waiting anxiously by the mailbox for their federal bailout checks. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board to try to come up with enough cash to survive until December 8. Plus they still have to convince Congress that they have some kind of plan to survive beyond waiting anxiously by said mailbox. Accordingly, GM and Ford are announcing another round of cut-and-shuffle. Ford will close its Chicago Taurus/TaurusX/Sable/MKS plant for the weeks of Dec. 15 and 22, and its Flat Rock, MI Mustang/Mazda6 plant for the week of Dec. 22. According to Automotive News [sub], “the only Ford assembly operations scheduled to run the week of Dec. 22 are a van plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, an F-150 pickup production line in Kansas City, Mo. and an F-150 plant in Dearborn, Mich.” Meanwhile, GM will close the Impala plant in Oshawa, Ont. and the Lordstown, OH Cobalt/G5 plant from Jan. 12 to Jan. 20. Automotive News [sub] reports that GM will also shut down its Orion Township, MI Malibu/G6 plant from Jan. 5 to Jan. 12. GM’s Kansas City, KS Aura/LaCrosse plant will be closed Dec. 23-Jan. 20, and a planned week of downtime there has been moved up to Jan. 12 from Jan. 26. The permanent closure of GM’s Oshawa, Ont. truck plant has also been moved up, from July to May 14.
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The Dem's are going to give them the money. They owe the UAW and then the Big 3 can handout 100k retirement packages to all the retiring 48 and 50 year old workers.
One shouldn't read too much into the shutting down of plants during the holiday season. It is SOP to reduce production around this time of year both to allow for vacation time for the workers and to slow down the influx of new model year vehicles to allow dealers to rid themselves of the remaining current model year vehicles.
Edward, what part of 'Ford does not need immediate bailout relief' don't you understand? Ford has never asked for an immediate cash bailout from the government. All Mullaly told members of congress during his testimony was that, although he believed it wouldn't be necessary, the option needs to remain open in case market conditions worsen beyond Ford's expectations. The only ones groveling for cash were Nardelli and Wagoner.