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Posted tagged ‘Auto manufacturing’

R.I.P the American Made Sedan

November 28, 2018

In the last six years the share of light vehicle sales (sedans, station wagons, SUVs, pickups, minvans) in the U.S. that were autos (sedans and station wagons ) versus light trucks (pickups, minivans, SUVs) has declined by 20%. Autos are now about 30% of all light vehicle sales, in 1990 the percentage was 65%. Of the top 5 selling light vehicles in the U.S. in 2017, only the Toyota Camry is a sedan and there was not a single American made sedan in the top 20 selling vehicles.

By far, the top selling vehicle is the Ford F series pickup, selling more than twice the number of the top selling sedan, and 60% more than the next best selling vehicle (the Chevrolet Silverado pickup). The market has clearly changed, helped by lower gasoline prices, recent changes in CAFÉ (fuel efficiency) standards, and most importantly consumer preferences. GM recently announced the closing of several manufacturing facilities. I worked on 2 energy projects in Lordstown, OH where GM built its (once) popular Chevy Cruz and it is painful to hear that GM will be closing that facility after what was a period of renewed optimism in the region.

Categories: Automobiles, manufacturing, retail sales, Uncategorized
Tags: Auto manufacturing, car sales, consumers

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Protectionist Fallacies and Promises

October 11, 2018

Repetez moi: “tariffs are stupid.” Our President, who should know better, said the U.S. has collected billions of dollars from China as a result of the tariffs placed on imported goods. Well no, not exactly, actually not even close. Those billions of dollars have been collected from U.S. companies and manufacturers importing products and materials (like aluminum and steel, electronics, etc.) for use in the products and services that they sell. Tariffs have already cost Ford Motor Co. $1 billion in profit. U.S. consumers are also paying, until recently only on a few products (the CPI for laundry equipment was falling for about 10 years but is up 13% over the past year) but who will soon see prices on more products affected, as tariffs are placed on more products. Auto workers who were promised protectionist policies would spur manufacturing job growth must be disappointed as growth has fallen since 2017 and has been negative since mid-2017. Obviously, there are other influences on emp. growth in autos but protectionism isn’t helping. NAFTA version 2 (which looks a lot like NAFTA version 1) is hailed as the next savior for employment. Why not, those protectionist promises have worked-out so well thus far.

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