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EuroWire – March 2009
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Euro ire – January 2 06
Transat lant ic
Cable
an engineering site in Millbrook. Also in November, the American
auto giant said it would sell its 3.02% stake in Suzuki Motor Corp,
of Japan, for $230 million.
❈
Honda Motor has said that it will further cut vehicle
production in North America as it adjusts to plunging auto
demand but would not lay off workers at the affected plants.
The cuts are to take place at five of Honda’s seven plants in the
US and Canada. The Japanese carmaker said it would reduce
production by an additional 119,000 vehicles for its fiscal
year ending 31
st
March, bringing expected North American
production to 1.3 million units. The latest production cuts come
on top of previous reductions totalling 56,000 vehicles.
❈
Car parts maker Delphi Corp (Troy, Michigan) has
suspended work at a factory in China, citing shrinking demand.
The plant, located west of Shanghai in the city of Suzhou, makes
compressors for General Motors Corp (Detroit). The South China
Morning Post for 29
th
December quoted from a Delphi internal
document: “The sudden and unprecedented decline in (car)
sales globally has resulted in our only customer, General Motors
North America, announcing plant closures and plant stoppages.
Unfortunately our only customer in 2009 is GMNA, and this
has placed the Suzhou compressor plant in a very dangerous
position.”
Delphi, a former subsidiary of GM, filed for bankruptcy in
October 2005. It has more than $500 million in mainland Chinese
assets, according to the Hong Kong-based Post.
❈
Automotive industry forecaster JD Power & Associates
(Westlake Village, California) says that US car owners, unnerved
by the worsening labour market, are holding on to their old
autos longer, with consequent threat to a domestic car industry
already at a 16-year low in sales. The average transaction price of
a new vehicle was $26,743 in December 2008, almost 6% lower
than a year earlier, according to Power.
❈
Apparently, those Americans who are buying cars have
reverted to some bad habits. As reported on CNNMoney.com,
trucks and SUVs (sports utility vehicles) outsold cars in the US in
December, for the first time since February 2008. The information
on the “re-igniting [of] America’s taste for big vehicles” was
provided by researchers at automotive website Edmunds.com,
who also forecast that sales of hybrid vehicles would be well
down for the month.
Michelle Krebs, a senior editor with Edmunds, wrote on
29
th
December: “Despite public discussion of fuel efficiency,
SUVs and trucks are the industry’s biggest sellers right now as
a remarkable number of buyers seem to be compelled by three
factors: great deals, low gasoline prices, and winter weather.”
Alcoa announces cuts in smelter
output, capital spending
Citing plunging demand for aluminium, Alcoa Inc on 7
th
January
announced it would cut output and eliminate 13,500 jobs.
And capital spending by the largest US aluminium producer
Metals