G.M. worried by sales slump

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 8

G.M. worried by sales slump

NZPA Detroit The three main American car manufacturers yesterday reported their worst midNovember sales figures since 1959, and General Motors’ chairman (Mr Roger Smith) declared that the industry faced catastrophic conditions.

Mr Smith said in Los Angeles that a continuing decline in the industry could mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He urged an immediate start of new pay negotiations with the United Auto Workers’ Union, whose threeyear contract expires next year. Employees’ wages and benefits had risen “to a point where they present a problem of almost catastrophic

proportions to our industry.” G.M. reported mid-Novem-ber sales down 33 per cent from the same period last year, and Ford and Chrysler both reported sales down 24 per cent for the period. Mr Smith said that Labour costs at General Motors were more than 80 per cent higher than those of Japanese competitors and declared: “We can’t hope to compete in world competition with such a handicap.”

One analyst, Arvid Jouppi, said that although the situation was serious he thought Mr Smith had overstated the case. Mr Jouppi predicted a strong recovery in 1982 with an additional million units sold over this year’s estimated 6.4 million.