Ford Motor Co. said Friday it would temporarily halt production at 10 assembly plants between now and the end of the year, blaming high gas prices for pushing many consumers away from its pickups and SUVs and toward higher-mileage models.
Ford said the cuts will reduce the need for costly incentives to reduce bloated inventories. But they also illustrate just how out of step the lineup at the nation's second-largest automaker has become, as it loses market share to mostly Asian competitors under the watch of Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford.
General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group also have been caught in the shift away from trucks and SUVs to smaller cars and crossovers as consumers seek better fuel economy. The Big Three's combined U.S. market share fell to 54.5 percent for the first seven months of 2006, down from 58.7 percent in the same period a year ago.
GM already has announced it will cut production 7 percent to 8 percent in the third-quarter.
Ford announced a turnaround plan in January that called for shedding 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and closing 14 plants by 2012. By year's end, the company was to have cut production capacity 15 percent.[...]
The new production schedule will result in temporary shutdown this year at assembly plants in St. Thomas, Ontario; Chicago; Wixom, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Wayne, Mich.; St. Paul, Minn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Norfolk, Va.; and Dearborn, Mich.; Ford said.
Company officials would not say what specific impact the production cuts would have on workers. In general, hourly workers placed on temporary layoff receive 95 percent of their wages through state unemployment benefits and a supplement by Ford.
The United Auto Workers had no immediate comment on the announcement.
Will the UAW offer concessions to help keep Ford or other auto makers in business? Not likely.
And if you can get 95 percent of your wages while on layoff, what's the incentive to work?
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