Let us change the focus for a bit. Leave the GM and Chrysler issues and focus on how the other auto market players are doing. While the two U.S. car giants are sitting in pins and needles, brunt of the load on what is to be expected has been left at the hand of other car manufacturers like Fiat.

And perhaps that is one reason why Fiat is now being pressured by its own employees as they brace themselves on the corporate direction, anticipating large job cuts in the light of having to take over European activities left behind by GM and Chrysler.

“It’s all very well to go shopping abroad, but Italian workers want to know what their future will look like,” said Marco Roselli, a Fiat employee from southern Melfi.

What do the Fiat employees have to bank on? Right now it seems that there is no definite answer, something that has driven them to demand for job security. While that is a given, Fiat may put delays on what answer they may provide. Besides, it doesn’t seem that they have one for now as they continue to see what the future of the motoring industry would look like after all of these issues have finally settled down.

(Source) Motoring.co.za

Tags: auto market, car giants, car manufacturers, Chrysler, corporate direction, definite answer, Fiat, GM, italian workers, job cuts, job security, left behind, melfi, shopping

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Much of the attention for the last couple of days was on the impending cut on dealerships by Chrysler and General Motors. Now it is time for the auto suppliers and support companies to feel the crunch. And one of the companies that have announced their cost-cutting measures is a familiar brand in Bosch, maker of Chassis Systems.

The whole car industry debacle is following a domino effect. The fall of the top tile means that others relying on it will follow. And Bosch is a big supplier that can certainly tilt the whole automotive scenario for the worse as it announces job cuts of about 50 workers.

The eliminated positions are in the company’s facilities at Bosch Chassis Systems and Full Brake in South Bend and Automotive Proving Grounds in New Carlisle. The cuts are expected to be effective today.

Though declared to be only 20% in the reduction of employees, don’t expect it to be the last. Unless the economy picks up, expect more drastic measures by companies like Bosch to be applied.

(Source) Fox 28

Tags: Auto Suppliers, bosch, car industry, chassis, chassis systems, Chrysler, couple of days, crunch, debacle, domino effect, drastic measures, economy, General Motors, job cuts, new carlisle, proving grounds, south bend, tile

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German car manufacturer BMW is cutting around 850 jobs at its Mini plant in Oxford, England, as it scales back production in the wake of falling demand. The company, which produced 235,000 cars at the plant last year, said in a statement it would now be operating five days a week instead of seven. The plant in Oxford plant is the only plant worldwide that produces the Mini. “While Mini has been weathering the economic downturn, it is not immune from the challenges of the current situation,” the company said in a statement on Monday. Sales of the Mini fell 34.5% in January of 2009 to just over 10,000 worldwide.

The Mini was first made famous in 1969 when British actor Michael Caine drove one in the action adventure movie The Italian Job. The cut in production is the latest in a round of announcements made by auto manufacturers worldwide in response to the global economic downturn and the credit crunch, both of which continue to seriously depress auto sales.

Tags: BMW, job cuts, Mini

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GM is under the gun to come up with a plan for viability by next week in order to keep its $13.4 billion in federal bail-out loan money. Recently, in an effort to move the company closer to that goal, GM announced it will cut 10,000 white collar jobs. This is in addition to the massive blue collar layoffs, plant closings, and temporary plant shut downs that have been made over the past year. 

GM offered all of its hourly workers in the U.S. buy outs in 2008. The white collar cuts just announced constitute 14% of the GM white collar work force. “The purpose is to go into the Feb. 17 submission showing we are making progress on our viability plan,” said a G.M. spokesman, Tom Wilkinson. GM was granted $9 billion in December of 2008 and is eligible for $4 billion more if it can prove to Congress it can become profitable in the coming year.

Tags: Auto Bailout, GM, job cuts

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Approximately 220 people stand to lose their job as Bentley has announced hundreds of job cuts and layoffs amongst its workforce. Similar to what most car manufacturing companies worldwide are employing today, the British car industry is following the same path to be able to sustain operations and stay in business.

They also announced a temporary pay cut of ten per cent for its entire 3,600 workforce, including all management, from April 1 to the end of December.
(more…)

Tags: Bentley, british car, car industry, job cuts, jobs, layoffs

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As the global economic crisis spreads and deepens, foreign makers are starting to feel the pinch and pull back. Nissan Motors announced this week it will cut 20,000 jobs by the end of March. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said no factories will be shut down, but the job cuts, which amount to about 20% of Nissan’s total workforce, are necessary in the face of a projected $2 billion loss for the coming year. In addition to the 20,000 jobs cuts, Nissan is asking for 1,200 voluntary early retirements. 

Nissan said that most of the cuts will occur in Japan. Shares of Nissan stock have fallen over 70% in the past year alone, hurt by sluggish sales but also by the rise in value of the yen, which has made Nissan’s pricing less competitive in export markets, especially the U.S.  Nissan also holds a 15% stake in Renault, which is experiencing serious debt problems that are pushing it to the brink of solvency.

Tags: economic downturn, job cuts, Nissan

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Job cuts seem to be common in the news these days. And for Nissan Motors, addressing a sales slump means cutting down manpower to help curtail costs.

With the continued decline in car sales, Nissan has no choice but to cut manpower costs for its Sunderland which employs around 5,000 workers. 1,200 jobs are to be cut as Britain joins the ranks of businesses experiencing difficulties in light of the bad economy we are in today.

“It is essential we take the right action now to ensure we are in a strong and viable position once business conditions return to normal. Unavoidably, this means we have had to make some very tough decisions in recent weeks.

“However by doing so, we are helping to safeguard our long-term future which I believe is extremely positive.”

Job cuts in the auto sector are measures that many car companies hate to do. But if they want to continue operating, such measures have to be done even if it means laying off some workers.

(Source) AFP

Tags: auto manufacturers, auto sector, business conditions, car companies, car sales, economic slump, job cuts, manpower costs, Nissan, nissan motors, sunderland

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