Chrysler's plans to cut its US production by nearly half will not likely result in any permanent plant closures or layoffs, Chrysler Group chief executive Tom LaSorda said on Tuesday.
"It's too premature to talk about closings," LaSorda said during a conference call with analysts and journalists.
LaSorda said the company was taking a look at all aspects of the company's operations but that it expects sales to improve in the fourth quarter and next year.
"We're going to grow on the segments where we're not very strong. Our aim is to make more money on the products coming soon," he said.
DaimlerChrysler chief Dieter Zetsche told analysts on Tuesday that production at its struggling US subsidiary would be cut by 47 percent in the second half of the year to 705,000 vehicles.
Zetsche said that the reduced production was intended to relieve a backlog of vehicles at Chrylser dealerships.
He attributed Chrylser's poor sales to a product range poorly adapted to current market demand, which in the context of surging gasoline prices has swung to fuel-efficient models rather than sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and vans.
DaimlerChrysler issued a profit warning last Friday because of anticipated losses at Chrysler, sending shares of the group into a tailspin.
The projected US$1.5 billion loss makes efforts to win health-care concessions from the United Auto Workers (UAW) union even more important, LaSorda said.
"We cannot sit back and take an uncompetitive situation," LaSorda said.
General Motors and Ford Motor Co were able to win health care concessions and to hold back a US$1 per hour raise for their unionized workforce. But Chrysler workers rejected the deal and received their raise on Monday.
"We need to continue the dialogue with UAW and make sure we'll address these issues collectively," LaSorda said.
LaSorda said Chrysler was responding to shifting consumer demands by focusing more on smaller vehicles.
"We have a lot of four-cylinder products coming," he said. "The timing for these products is right. I wish they were here a year ago."
A new study released this week by the University of Michigan said US carmakers could win back customers if they boost the fuel-economy of their vehicles.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
RSS