t that's not bad.
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
he late actress Bette Davis could sum
up the outlook for the American auto-
motive industry this year with a para-
phrase of her famous comment in the
1950 movie All About Eve:
"Fasten your seat belts — we're in for a long
and bumpy ride."
Going along on that ride are several Detroit
area Jewish auto dealers and automotive suppli-
ers, who, at this point, are unsure of the destina-
tion. But, despite individual problems, they are
pretty optimistic.
The business outlook for the highly cyclical
industry will definitely be affected by a mixed
bag of events. DaimlerChrysler in January
announced elimination of
26,000 jobs (mainly through
Auto dealer
retirements and attrition), the
George
closing of six plants and other
Glassman is
cost-cutting measures.
losing the
General Motors and Ford are
Oldmobile
idling plants sporadically for a
brand
few weeks at a time, causing
temporary layoffs of workers.
Ford is still reeling from last
year's 6.5 million Bridgestone/Firestone tire recall
that mainly affected its second-best-selling vehi-
cle, the Explorer sport utility vehicle (SUV).
Car and truck inventories of all of the manu-
facturers are slowly edging upward. Two historic
car name plates, Plymouth and Oldsmobile, are
on the way out. Some industry analysts and writ-
ers, plus some governmental officials are cau-
tiously using the "recession" word.
"Detroit area dealers have been riding the crest
of a sales boom for eight years, but I think that's
run its course," said Maynard (Mac) Gordon of
Farmington Hills, a veteran automotive journal-
ist who covers dealership news for Ward's Dealer
Business Magazine. "I foresee slow sales through-
3,
out the year.
On the other hand, many experts feel "reces-
sion" is too harsh a description because its tech-
nical definition is back-to-back negative quarters.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan
•:•••V:4
3/23
2001
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