http://ctv2.theglobeandmail.com/ser...rvlet/story/RTGAM.20080212.wrbuzz0212/business/Business/businessBN/ctv-business
OMAR EL AKKAD AND GREG KEENAN, Globe and Mail Update
The North American operations of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. could be forced into bankruptcy within a decade if Canada and the United States don't act to halt imports from South Korea and Japan, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove warned Tuesday.
Losses in market share are causing the two largest U.S. auto makers to scale back their operations in North America even as they increase their sales and investment in offshore markets such as South America and China, Mr. Hargrove said.
"I'm very fearful. Every month when I look at the numbers, the market share losses just keep growing. [For] Ford and GM I think there's only one scenario if you don't stem the market share losses," he said, following a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa.
His comments came on the same day that GM announced a record auto industry loss of some $38.7-billion (U.S.) and revealed that it once again lost money in its home market of North America last year while turning a profit in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
That in turn, was just one day after auto parts maker Martinrea International Inc. announced that it is shutting its largest plant in Canada — the largest shutdown yet in a series of plant closings that has wiped out more than 11,000 jobs in the country's auto parts sector.
Mr. Hargrove has been seeking a meeting with Mr. Harper since the Conservatives were elected two years ago. The crisis afflicting segments of the auto and auto parts industry has deepened since then with the meteoric rise in value of the Canadian dollar.
"Just getting the meeting, I feel like a winner, after two years," Mr. Hargrove said.
But he outlined a litany of problems facing the industry, including the number of imports from Asia and Europe that far exceed the number of vehicles shipped there from Canada.
The union wants Mr. Harper to make a public statement saying Canada will no longer allow such imports to enter North America unless Japan and South Korea in particular open their markets to North American vehicles.
The CAW wants the Prime Minister to help persuade the United States to take the same action in a new North American auto pact.
The threat to the North American auto industry is evident right now with vehicles from South Korea and Japan, Mr. Hargrove said, even before low-cost vehicles from China and India begin arriving here in the next decade.
Mr. Hargrove pointed to GM's financial results released Tuesday as evidence of how the home market is becoming less important to the Detroit Three.
"GM is saying within a decade 75 per cent of their sales will be offshore," he said.
Much of their production will be as well, he said and that threatens jobs in Canada, where the Canadian units of Ford, GM and Chrysler LLC employ about 40,000 Canadians. Mr. Hargrove said Chrysler is already restructuring in other ways that will make it a smaller auto maker.
OMAR EL AKKAD AND GREG KEENAN, Globe and Mail Update
The North American operations of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. could be forced into bankruptcy within a decade if Canada and the United States don't act to halt imports from South Korea and Japan, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove warned Tuesday.
Losses in market share are causing the two largest U.S. auto makers to scale back their operations in North America even as they increase their sales and investment in offshore markets such as South America and China, Mr. Hargrove said.
"I'm very fearful. Every month when I look at the numbers, the market share losses just keep growing. [For] Ford and GM I think there's only one scenario if you don't stem the market share losses," he said, following a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa.
His comments came on the same day that GM announced a record auto industry loss of some $38.7-billion (U.S.) and revealed that it once again lost money in its home market of North America last year while turning a profit in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
That in turn, was just one day after auto parts maker Martinrea International Inc. announced that it is shutting its largest plant in Canada — the largest shutdown yet in a series of plant closings that has wiped out more than 11,000 jobs in the country's auto parts sector.
Mr. Hargrove has been seeking a meeting with Mr. Harper since the Conservatives were elected two years ago. The crisis afflicting segments of the auto and auto parts industry has deepened since then with the meteoric rise in value of the Canadian dollar.
"Just getting the meeting, I feel like a winner, after two years," Mr. Hargrove said.
But he outlined a litany of problems facing the industry, including the number of imports from Asia and Europe that far exceed the number of vehicles shipped there from Canada.
The union wants Mr. Harper to make a public statement saying Canada will no longer allow such imports to enter North America unless Japan and South Korea in particular open their markets to North American vehicles.
The CAW wants the Prime Minister to help persuade the United States to take the same action in a new North American auto pact.
The threat to the North American auto industry is evident right now with vehicles from South Korea and Japan, Mr. Hargrove said, even before low-cost vehicles from China and India begin arriving here in the next decade.
Mr. Hargrove pointed to GM's financial results released Tuesday as evidence of how the home market is becoming less important to the Detroit Three.
"GM is saying within a decade 75 per cent of their sales will be offshore," he said.
Much of their production will be as well, he said and that threatens jobs in Canada, where the Canadian units of Ford, GM and Chrysler LLC employ about 40,000 Canadians. Mr. Hargrove said Chrysler is already restructuring in other ways that will make it a smaller auto maker.
