The vehicle market is in a bad slide, but not as bad as real estate. However, that could change. The problem is not just that car makers can't unload their gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks because of high gas prices.
The fact is that vehicles today are made so well and can last so long that with the bad economy, people find that they really don't need to buy a new car. They'll just keep their 6-year-old vehicle, which works just fine.
Here's the job cuts story below.
GM to cut 15 pct of US, Canadian salaried workersDETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. plans to cut 15 percent of its U.S. and Canadian salaried work force -- or around 5,100 jobs -- by Nov. 1 as part of a plan to slash billions of dollars in costs and help the automaker ride out a slump in U.S. sales.
A GM official declined to confirm the specific numbers Wednesday but indicated they were generally accurate. The official asked not to be named because the company had not planned to release the numbers until later.
Word of the cuts came two days before GM plans to release its second-quarter earnings. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are predicting a loss of $2.63 per share on revenues of $44.6 billion amid plummeting U.S. truck and sport utility vehicle sales and restructuring costs.
GM's sales outside North America grew 10 percent in the first half of this year thanks to strong growth in Russia, Brazil and other emerging markets. But it wasn't enough to keep Toyota Motor Corp. from taking the sales lead, or to offset losses at home. GM's U.S. sales fell 16 percent in the first six months of this year, sharper than the industrywide decline of 10 percent.
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