Don't Let the Auto Crisis Take You for a Ride

摘要

How will the automotive industry shake out in 2009? Lost in the carnage of the mortgage-lending crisis that resulted in a massive government bailout is the now-seemingly meager USD25 billion government-backed loan program for the automotive industry. Details are sparse and no one in the industry really knows exactly how the loan program will work or when it will kick off, but we do know that automotive suppliers are eligible for some of that program's low-interest money. Funds are earmarked for dated operations looking to retool to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles - a nod to Ford, GM and Chrysler, domestic OEMs that tend to occupy older facilities than transplant OEMs - and the parts makers that supply them. (The Precision Metalforming Association was instrumental in inclusion of assistance for suppliers, lobbying vigorously on behalf of that provision.)