I decided to post this thread because I dont know if people in other parts of the country really know how bad things are, or are going to get in this country with the auto industry selling out our country. Since I work up here in the industry and see jobs being lost everyday because of our companies sending more work over seas my job is at risk every day, and so is the well being of our country, trust me, it does not just affect people in the industry, it will affect the whole country, your jobs and mine. Pennies turn into dollars, and if we continue to accept our jobs being lost to other countries, we are all screwed.

Chrysler, other U.S. carmakers seek cheap overseas labor to stay competitive.

By Christine Tierney / The Detroit News







Chinese Chrysler

DaimlerChrysler is in talks to build Chryslers in China for export. Would you buy a Chrysler from China?

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DaimlerChrysler AG's top China strategist triggered an uproar Thursday when he disclosed the automaker may make vehicles in China for export, including a subcompact for the Chrysler Group's U.S. lineup.

In Auburn Hills, Chrysler executives acknowledged that the company might use China as an export base. But in a confusing twist, they denied there are plans to make a small car in China for the U.S. market.

The subject is politically charged, with U.S. automakers increasing purchases of low-cost components made in China but hesitant to bring Chinese-built vehicles to the United States, where they have excess factory capacity and face fierce union opposition.

General Motors Corp. puts a Chinese engine in the Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV sold in the United States. Honda Motor Co. plans to produce cars in China for export to Europe. The only public plan to bring Chinese cars to the U.S. market is entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin's project to import cars built in China in 2007.

Now U.S. automakers face mounting pressure to become more competitive by shifting output to China, where wages run as low as $1 an hour, and other low-cost regions.

At the Shanghai auto show, DaimlerChrysler's board member in charge of its China operations, Ruediger Grube, told reporters the automaker was studying plans to build a car in China smaller than the Dodge Neon for Chrysler.

"We would like to establish here in China an export joint venture for Chrysler products," Grube said. "Today, we are not talking about Europe. We are talking about North America."

I really hope this kinda stuff stops sometime soon before we lose our jobs in the future.

In addition, Ford is preparing to cut its U.S. salaried work force by 1,000 jobs.
Ford also signaled that it's prepared to look outside the United States for low-cost manufacturing opportunities.

"We're aggressively planning to invest in growth areas and to allocate our resources where it makes the most sense in the long term," Bill Ford said. "And that includes accelerating our investment in fast-growing markets."

One example: On Wednesday, Ford and partners Mazda Motor Corp. and China's Changan Automotive Group signed a deal to jointly build engines in Nanjing, China, by early 2007.

To winnow excess inventories, Ford has scheduled several weeks of down time plants such as Ford's Twin Cities plant, which builds the Ranger and Mazda B-Series small pickups, and Ford's minivan plant in Oakville, Ontario.

General Motors Corp. must close plants, cut jobs, contain health care costs and eliminate at least one brand to stanch its bottom-line bleeding, some leading financial analysts say. The automaker, which is expected to report steep first-quarter losses today, is under severe pressure to prove to investors that it can fix its operations. GM's market value has plunged 35 percent this year and its credit rating is hovering one notch above junk-bond status. In a bearish report Friday, Deutsche Bank analysts Rod Lache and Michael Heifler said GM likely will be forced to undertake a major restructuring that could mean the closure of four assembly plants and the elimination of 20,000 to 30,000 jobs in North America. It could also entail dropping a brand -- most likely Buick -- renegotiating health care benefits with the United Auto Workers union and cutting benefits for laid-off workers who are collecting most of their base pay. "A restructuring of this magnitude would be unprecedented in recent times," Lache and Heifler wrote. "The end result is that GM could emerge as a smaller but healthier automaker."

I would like to add, if we keep losing our jobs, who is going to be able to buy cars here, or houses, or anything else we manufacture here to keep our country going strong? As long as the people of this country keep accepting the "little" things, we are all screwed by the big things to come.

Well,.....it's the labor rate. I'd rather buy an American made car......I'd rather buy an American-made DVD player, telephone, TV. The quality of life that American workers want requires higher wages....while enough money to buy a decent meal is a quality of life improvement in other countries. Maybe the industrial revolution improved American life too fast and now the world has to catch up..a little. Imagine how much American tomatoes would cost if picked by unionized American workers....then the Columbians would choose to grow tomatoes instead of coca.

I agree the labor rate and the unions have ruined the country, but trust me, if you want to buy an american made vehicle, you will have to buy a Toyota or a Honda. All I am saying here is this, over the last 20 or so years, we have accepted the little changes in this country to the point where we are conditoned to accept the bigger and worse changes. I will never again buy another Ford vehicle brand new, and I work at Fords. I lost three of my coworkers today because of a canceled program that the company spent milllions on and then just decides to pull the plug, what the hell, it's only money.............

http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/...e_20050423.htm