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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , SUVs , Trucks/Pickups , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Hyundai A 15-percent drop in Sonata sales since the beginning of 2008 is one reason Hyundai will idle its Alabama plant for 11 days between now and the end of the year (the near-2-percent drop in Santa Fe sales didn't help either). According to Hyundai Motor Company officials, the current sales slump and future sales projections of both models warrant the assembly slowdown. To limit the financial impact on the plant's workers, Hyundai will schedule the days on Fridays, and around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Hyundai also added, "We will continue to monitor the situation closely and hope that the economic conditions affecting our industry will soon normalize and allow us to return to a full production schedule as soon as possible." You and everybody else. Gallery: Hyundai Santa Fe Limited (UK) Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Hyundai Sonata [Source: Automotive News...
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Filed under: SUVs , Government/Legal , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Chrysler, LLC. , Jeep , Renault , Rumormill The latest rumors regarding Cerberus-owned Chrysler and its possible sale point to the breakup of Chrysler's assets, and in particular its brands. General Motors may be interested in bits and pieces of its cross-town rival, but perhaps not the entire automaker. Jeep is considered Chrysler's most valuable asset and was purchased by the automaker from Renault in the '80s, around the same time that AMC ceased to exist. A similar scenario may put Jeep back in the hands of Renaul t . This purchase could allow the French automaker an easier entry back into the U.S. market with dealerships and excess production capacity leftover from Chrysler. General Motors main interests are rumored to be the minivan line along with some production sites, including the plant in Mexico that assembles Dodge Ram trucks. In exchange for the pieces of Chrysler that GM is interested in, the automaker...
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Filed under: SUVs , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Chevrolet , GMC , Saab , UAW/Unions Looks like that Moraine, Ohio plant that was going to be shut down next year is actually going to be shuttered on December 23rd, just in time for Christmas. This is the plant responsible for production of the GMC Envoy, Chevy Trailblazer and Saab 9-7X. The General had already slowed the plant to just one shift as SUV sales, particularly sales of old SUVs like these, continue to tumble, but the plant was expected to remain open until at least early next year. On Friday the remaining 1,100 workers were gathered and told of the revised plan. The closure isn't a total surprise, as General Motors had already announced that the Dayton-suburb plant would be closed so the company could focus more on production of small cars. That initial announcement seemed to indicate a 2010 closure, but the company has continually revised the closing date until this most recent word came. Moraine is one of four GM plants that...
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Filed under: SUVs , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Jeep click above to view more high-res pics of the 2008 Jeep Liberty Employees at Jeep's factory in Toledo, Ohio reported back to work this week after two months of mandatory downtime. The good news is that they still have their jobs; the bad news is that they've been told to expect another four weeks off before the end of the year. This time, however, the shutdowns will be scheduled in week-long intervals instead of covering an entire four-week period. The slowdown of SUV sales has been widely covered and the Jeep brand has not been immune, including its bread-and-butter Wrangler model that had proven extremely popular a short while back when the first-ever four-door version was unveiled. Of course, back then gas was below $3 a gallon. Besides the Wrangler, Jeep also makes the Liberty and Dodge Nitro at the Toledo plant. Gallery: 2008 Jeep Liberty [Source: 13 ABC ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: SUVs , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Dodge , Jeep , Earnings/Financials Jeep sales are down. They're way down , in fact, posting a 44-percent drop in their daily sales rate last month. Though the larger 'utes are really dragging down sales, even the once-untouchable Wranger has been feeling the sting of escalating fuel prices, as its blocky shape and 3.8-liter V6 engine conspire to deliver awful fuel mileage. Also selling rather slowly are the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro, which are assembled at the same plant in Northwest-Ohio. In an effort to save costs, Chrysler officials are considering reducing the work-week at the Toledo plant from the normal five days down to four and allowing its workers to stay on for ten-hour shifts. While that total still equals the forty-hours from a five-day, eight-hour per day work-week, Chrysler believes it can save on energy and fuel costs by shuttering the plant for an extra day. [Source: 13abc.com ] Read | Permalink...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , SUVs , Trucks/Pickups , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Crossovers/CUVs , Toyota Toyota's got some changes and rearranges underway with its North American facilities to better serve the demands of the market. The biggest news is that Prius production will be coming Stateside, which will help unkink the supply pipeline, if not also lower costs. A new facility in Blue Springs, Mississippi is being readied for the battery-pack-mobile, though the location was initially meant to turn out Highlanders. With consumer desires shifting with the rise of fuel prices, cranking out more Priuses is a higher priority, and beginning in fall 2009, the Highlander will shuffle off to Princeton, Indiana. With the Highlander elbowing its way into the Princeton plant, the vehicle currently produced there, the Tundra, will see its production move under a single roof in San Antonio, Texas. The big-truck moves are of little consequence when the plants are scheduled...
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Filed under: SUVs , Trucks/Pickups , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Toyota , Earnings/Financials Toyota posted a 10% sales decline for its bread-and-butter brand of over the month of June, with numbers that are even worse -- an 11.5% drop -- when the Scion and Lexus brands are added into the equation. In response to these very un-Toyota-like sales declines, the automaker is now revamping its vehicle production in the States. Though it has already introduced measures to slow the production of full-size Tundra trucks and Sequoia SUVs, reports indicate the further cuts will be made at the San Antonio truck plant. The Indiana plant, which also produces Tundras, will see workers transferred to other lines where more popular vehicles are assembled. Even plants in Japan that export vehicles to the U.S. could be affected. Toyota is hardly used to seeing double-digit drops in sales in the U.S., so it will be interesting to see how the giant Japanese automaker responds in the months to come. [Source:...
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Filed under: Trends , Minivans/MPVs , SUVs , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler, LLC. , Dodge , Jeep , Earnings/Financials Click above high-res gallery of the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT Now that General Motors and Ford have completely abandoned the minivan market for good, the American originator of the species faces only Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and soon Volkswagen as manufacturers that also offer competitive choices. Perhaps you'd think that Chrysler would be benefiting as the only domestic automaker currently playing in the segment, but it seems that sales are down this year by 13 percent for the Chrysler Town and Country while the Dodge Grand Caravan is down an alarming 35 percent. High gas prices are the obvious reason why the minivan market is seeing such a harsh downward trend, and likely the culprit behind Chrysler's impending move to idle its St. Louis South minivan plant as early as December, which would leave some 1,500 employees jobless. Utility...
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