E-Z-B
CAGiversary!
Ford will close one of its Louisville plants and one in St. Louis for a week starting Monday to cut excess supplies of Explorers -- and more shutdowns are scheduled for next month.
Explorer sales were down nearly 23 percent through April compared to the same period of 2004. Ford has been trying to match production with reduced sales, said company sales analyst George Pipas.
Besides next week's shutdowns, the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road and the St. Louis plant will close for three weeks on June 27. In Louisville, that will mean a one-week layoff followed by the traditional two-week summer shutdown.
The company's 4,000 Louisville workers will collect unemployment insurance and supplemental payments from Ford that will add up to about 95 percent of their wages for the layoff weeks, and they will get vacation pay for the other two weeks.
The St. Louis plant has a different schedule, so Pipas said all three weeks there will be layoff weeks. Employees will get vacation during the first two weeks of August, further cutting output at that plant.
Pipas and financial analysts have blamed declining SUV sales on changing consumer tastes. More buyers are choosing smaller SUVs and crossovers, which are sport utility vehicles built on car frames instead of truck frames.
Pipas said high gas prices have accelerated a trend that has been going on for several years.
"Just a year and a half ago, we were working overtime in Louisville" to build enough SUVs to meet demand, Pipas said. "But at the beginning of 2004, gas was $1.50 a gallon."
The Louisville plant will begin building the 2006 Explorer on July 18, Pipas said. The new model will offer a more powerful V-8 engine and a six-speed transmission.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050521/BUSINESS/505210327/1003
So their response to consumers switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles and smaller SUVs is to build a LESS fuel-efficient Explorer V-8? Honestly, you couldn't make this BS up if you tried. I think it's pretty safe to say that Ford's decision makers are overrun with brainwashed Republicans. Only a Republican could think so illogically.
This is exactly why the Japanese are continuing to gobble up US market share. I still think that's a smart move by them by building a new Honda (or Toyota?) plant right in Texas.
Explorer sales were down nearly 23 percent through April compared to the same period of 2004. Ford has been trying to match production with reduced sales, said company sales analyst George Pipas.
Besides next week's shutdowns, the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road and the St. Louis plant will close for three weeks on June 27. In Louisville, that will mean a one-week layoff followed by the traditional two-week summer shutdown.
The company's 4,000 Louisville workers will collect unemployment insurance and supplemental payments from Ford that will add up to about 95 percent of their wages for the layoff weeks, and they will get vacation pay for the other two weeks.
The St. Louis plant has a different schedule, so Pipas said all three weeks there will be layoff weeks. Employees will get vacation during the first two weeks of August, further cutting output at that plant.
Pipas and financial analysts have blamed declining SUV sales on changing consumer tastes. More buyers are choosing smaller SUVs and crossovers, which are sport utility vehicles built on car frames instead of truck frames.
Pipas said high gas prices have accelerated a trend that has been going on for several years.
"Just a year and a half ago, we were working overtime in Louisville" to build enough SUVs to meet demand, Pipas said. "But at the beginning of 2004, gas was $1.50 a gallon."
The Louisville plant will begin building the 2006 Explorer on July 18, Pipas said. The new model will offer a more powerful V-8 engine and a six-speed transmission.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050521/BUSINESS/505210327/1003
So their response to consumers switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles and smaller SUVs is to build a LESS fuel-efficient Explorer V-8? Honestly, you couldn't make this BS up if you tried. I think it's pretty safe to say that Ford's decision makers are overrun with brainwashed Republicans. Only a Republican could think so illogically.
This is exactly why the Japanese are continuing to gobble up US market share. I still think that's a smart move by them by building a new Honda (or Toyota?) plant right in Texas.
