Automakers Woes

[dollardaze]

Automakers in the U.S. are not the only plants being hit by the world's economy downturn.

Toyota has announced that it will close down it's assembly plants and also the factories that make the parts for the vehicles for 11 days in February and March. This is due to the decline in sales of vehicles. In the past, Toyota couldn't keep up with the demand for it's vehicles, as they are some of the most fuel efficient.

Nissan is skipping the North American Auto Show, which opens in Detroit next week. A group of Nissan dealers had planned to run an exhibit for the company, but these dealers were asked by Nissan to cancel their plans.

The U.S. automakers fear that the auto industry may never have the sales levels that they used to enjoy. Sales of new cars in America used to top 16 million, but plummeted down to 13.2 million last year and sales are expected to fall even further during the next several years.

[carol b]

Cars are just too expensive. The thought of spending money on a new car is just too much for most of us. I myself would rather drive my old one into the ground than take on another payment.

Fuel prices have alot to do with the fall in sales to I think. If we are spending more to run our cars we have less left over to spend. Our budgets just won't fit one more thing into them. They may have incentives but they just aren't going to make a difference.