Word: gm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...German manufacturers are already cutting back production. On Oct. 13, Opel workers in the eastern German town of Eisenach will stay home for three weeks as GM Europe tries to adjust to falling demand for its cars. Opel was one of the first western firms to set up shop in Eisenach after the fall of the wall in 1989. The factory, which employs some 1,800 people, now produces GM's popular Corsa model for export around Europe and beyond. The town (population 40,000) has also become home to suppliers such as component maker Bosch, machine servicing firm Hormann...
...Speaking at the Paris Motor Show earlier this month, Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe, said that car sales were falling fast across Europe and that higher gas prices had made the cost of car ownership prohibitive. To own and operate a car in Germany now costs 25.5 % more than it did in 2000, he said, while the consumer price increase has only been 15.6 %. Forster believes carmakers need help from Europe's capitals to turn the situation around. He wants European governments to stimulate the economy, free up credit and restore consumer confidence...
Similar credit concerns have contributed to a 20% drop in sales at Marshall Ford in Mayfield Heights, an affluent Cleveland suburb, says owner Larry Elk. Leased vehicles typically make up half of Marshall's new-car business. As Ford, GM and other manufacturers take steps to cut back on car leases, Elk says he feels the pinch. "People are getting the message that leases aren't happening," he says. "If people don't have to buy a car, they're just holding off to see what happens...
...world economic growth: American consumers have snapped up everything that the Chinese have manufactured, from toys to apparel, and in return the Chinese have helped to finance America's deficits by accumulating ever larger amounts of U.S. debt. If their economy hits the brakes, Chinese will buy fewer GM cars, Chinese steelmakers will use less U.S. iron ore, and Beijing may want to use its cash reserves for other purposes, including investment at home to stimulate its own economy rather than to bail out the U.S. Treasury...
...Easy Being Green I read your recent article about General Motors' Chevrolet Volt with disbelief [Sept. 29]. There was no acknowledgment that four companies - Aptera, Miles Electric Vehicles, Tesla and Think - plan on bringing fully electric vehicles to the U.S. marketplace before GM does. Alexander Fox, CHARLESTON...