Kathianne
07-24-2011, 02:04 PM
Unemployment isn't going to get better anytime soon from the looks of it. Profits are not going to be spent on hiring or new investments:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-usa-automakers-economy-idUSTRE76L5IX20110722
Analysis: Automakers wary as economy stuck in slow gear
Fri, Jul 22 2011
By Clare Baldwin (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=clare.baldwin&)
With the economy still struggling to regain momentum after the financial crisis of 2007-09 and 14 million Americans out of work, the planners at GM and a host of corporations across America are in no rush to make big new investments to ramp up output and hiring.
The world's second-biggest automaker has not reopened its idled plants or built new ones as Americans rein in spending.
Like many U.S. manufacturers, it is squeezing more from existing factories and using time-honored efficiency boosts such as adding to overtime and eliminating plant bottlenecks.
"Our manufacturing folks have been tremendous at squeaking out extra units through improving line rates, adding on extra shifts," GM's U.S. sales chief Don Johnson said... meaning we aren't going to be hiring...
...
For automakers and dealers, high gasoline prices are also a constant factor.
"People are so sensitive to the price of fuel, if it spikes like it did earlier this year, it can have quite an effect on either keeping people out of the market or causing them shift their preferences on product," said John McEleney, a Clinton, Iowa, GM and Toyota dealer.
INCREASE OUTPUT, BIT BY BIT
Concern about the U.S. economic outlook is a big factor for Hyundai Motor Co , which has resisted committing to building a second U.S. plant for its Hyundai brand despite running up against capacity concerns at its current factory.
"There's no big, simple silver-bullet solution. We're not going to pull the trigger on a big capacity increase, so it's got to be just a continued number of small, incremental improvements," Hyundai Motor America Chief Executive John Krafcik said earlier this month. ...when people aren't buying new cars because of the economy, we can't afford to expand...
"Jobs are still an issue, housing is still a big issue and I don't think that's talked about enough in the context of our industry," he told reporters at Hyundai's technical center outside Detroit.
"When people don't have home equity, it's often very difficult for them to pull that trigger and buy a new car."
...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-usa-automakers-economy-idUSTRE76L5IX20110722
Analysis: Automakers wary as economy stuck in slow gear
Fri, Jul 22 2011
By Clare Baldwin (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=clare.baldwin&)
With the economy still struggling to regain momentum after the financial crisis of 2007-09 and 14 million Americans out of work, the planners at GM and a host of corporations across America are in no rush to make big new investments to ramp up output and hiring.
The world's second-biggest automaker has not reopened its idled plants or built new ones as Americans rein in spending.
Like many U.S. manufacturers, it is squeezing more from existing factories and using time-honored efficiency boosts such as adding to overtime and eliminating plant bottlenecks.
"Our manufacturing folks have been tremendous at squeaking out extra units through improving line rates, adding on extra shifts," GM's U.S. sales chief Don Johnson said... meaning we aren't going to be hiring...
...
For automakers and dealers, high gasoline prices are also a constant factor.
"People are so sensitive to the price of fuel, if it spikes like it did earlier this year, it can have quite an effect on either keeping people out of the market or causing them shift their preferences on product," said John McEleney, a Clinton, Iowa, GM and Toyota dealer.
INCREASE OUTPUT, BIT BY BIT
Concern about the U.S. economic outlook is a big factor for Hyundai Motor Co , which has resisted committing to building a second U.S. plant for its Hyundai brand despite running up against capacity concerns at its current factory.
"There's no big, simple silver-bullet solution. We're not going to pull the trigger on a big capacity increase, so it's got to be just a continued number of small, incremental improvements," Hyundai Motor America Chief Executive John Krafcik said earlier this month. ...when people aren't buying new cars because of the economy, we can't afford to expand...
"Jobs are still an issue, housing is still a big issue and I don't think that's talked about enough in the context of our industry," he told reporters at Hyundai's technical center outside Detroit.
"When people don't have home equity, it's often very difficult for them to pull that trigger and buy a new car."
...