What causing major automakers cut jobs and shutdown plants?

Without going into a lot of detail, American automakers are cutting jobs and closing plants because not enough people want to buy the cars they are producing at the prices they are asking. There are better values available in the auto marketplace other than General Motors and Ford.

Regards,

Marv

Hubert Mak wrote:

two words..... quality & price and maybe a third........ design

----------- Elbert snipped-for-privacy@me.com

Bunch of reasons. US manufacturers frequently have contracts that mean in the short term they lose more money by shutting down a plant building a money losing vehicle than they do continuing to produce. Management is rewarded for short-term goals, so for years tough decisions have been put off until later. It is now later. SUV's don't cost nearly as much more to produce as they sell for--While raw materials costs may be a bit higher on a big vehicle, you don't need more people to install doors, fenders, radios, etc. When gas is cheap, it is obvious that you should concentrate on high-profit low-mileage vehicles, but when gas prices rise, you get stuck with overcapacity. A plant that was single-handedly responsible for a double-digit percentage of GM profit a few years ago has been cut back, and is in danger of being shut down in a few years.