Monday, July 14th, 2008
The storm battering Detroit intensified yesterday with Ford Motor Co. offering a bleak sales outlook and its second major production cut in less than a month, which will wipe out 300 jobs at its Canadian operations.
Ford said it will delay introduction of a new generation of its F-series pickup by two months, cut production of trucks and truck-based sport utility vehicles even further than it announced less than a month ago and will have difficulty meeting its previous target of breaking even on a company-wide basis next year.
It also reiterated earlier plans to boost output of smaller cars and crossover utilities, including the CUVs made in Oakville, Ont.
“We view the move to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles as permanent and we are responding to customer demand,” Ford president Alan Mulally said in a statement.
Union officials said slashing output of trucks and SUVs means 300 jobs will be lost at the company’s Windsor, Ont., engine facility, which puts together V-8 and V-10 engines for pickups and SUVs.
There are about 2,500 Canadian Auto Workers members now at Ford’s engine plants and joint ventures in the city and 738 on layoff, Mike Vince, president of local 200 in Windsor, said yesterday.
The crisis in Detroit is spilling over to parts makers in Canada as well, with Magna International Inc. announcing this week that it will slash 400 jobs or one-quarter of the work force at a plant in St. Thomas, Ont., that makes frames for GM’s pickups. GM revealed in turn that it is delaying development of its next generation of pickup trucks to focus more of its resources on cars and other vehicles that use less gas.
Magna’s U.S. plants will take a hit with the Ford announcement because the parts giant makes many components for heavy-duty pickups assembled at one Ford plant in Kentucky and frames for the Explorer SUV built at another plant in that state. Output is being throttled back at both plants. It will trim a shift of Explorer production and cut the assembly line speed at the pickup plant.
Previous cuts by the Detroit Three are one of the causes of parts sector employment in Canada plunging by more than 20,000 jobs to 81,676 workers last month from a peak reached in 2001, industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said in a report yesterday.
The parts sector will not disappear, said Mr. DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.
“The remaining parts sector should be able to recover as the cyclical downturn in the industry recovers,” Mr. DesRosiers said.
The Ford announcement capped a brutal week for the Detroit Three that included forecasts by several Wall Street analysts and the chairman of Chrysler LLC that sales in the U.S. market will plunge to their lowest level this month in more than a decade.
Underlining the growing danger to Detroit was Ford’s new statement that its perennially profitable credit arm will report a pretax loss this year and will not pay a dividend to its parent company.
Regulator filings show Ford Motor Credit Co. has posted a profit annually since 1989, which is as far back as Securities and Exchange Commission documents go.
Two influential U.S. ratings agencies added to the pressure, with Standard & Poor’s Corp. placing ratings for all three companies on credit watch with negative implications and Moody’s Investors Service Inc. cutting Ford’s outlook to negative from stable.
Both rating agencies are worried about the cash drain the severe slump in truck and SUV sales is causing.
“We have renewed concerns about all three auto makers’ future cash outflows in light of the prospects for U.S. sales for the rest of 2008 and into 2009,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Robert Schulz.
Deteriorating fundamentals could reduce liquidity to undesirable levels by the second half of next year, Standard & Poor’s added.
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Monday, July 14th, 2008
In North America, the term RECREATIONAL VEHICLE (or RV, as they are commonly known), generally refers to a dual purpose vehicle that can also be used as a temporary or full time home - essentially, a MOTORHOME.
In Britain, on the other hand, common terms describing vehicles classified as RVs in the US are caravan, camper van and indeed, motorhome. In other parts of the English speaking world, such as Australia and New Zealand, the term RV may be used to describe a sport utility vehicle (SUV) or 4X4.
A minimal RV typically contains beds, a table, food preparation and storage areas. Larger models come with full bathrooms, refrigerators, living areas, master bedrooms and entertainment units. Some RVs are very elaborate, with satellite TV and Internet access, slide-out sections, and awnings; Most RVs can cost (new) from less than $10,000 to $500,000. Some of the more elaborate models can cost much more than that.
As their name suggests, RVs are mainly used for recreational purposes. RVs have varied uses - from short vacations and camping trips to full-time living at various levels of comfort. RV travel is a burgeoning segment of the international travel industry, and many RV rental firms - both large and small - rent vehicles in many cities around the world.
Several classes of vehicle are generally classified as RVs:
Truck Camper: Usually used on pickup trucks, a truck camper is a shell, usually made of fiberglass or aluminum, mounted atop the truck’s rear bed. It is generally large enough to be suitable for camping purposes.
Pop-up Camping Trailer: This type of RV is a lightweight trailer unit with collapsible sides, for quick setup at the campsite and easy storage. The unit is suitable for towing by most vehicle types.
Caravan (sometimes called Travel Trailer): This is a towable unit with rigid sides, designed to be towed by larger vehicles.
Fifth Wheel Travel Trailer: Designed to be towed by a pickup or medium duty truck with a special “Fifth Wheel” hitch.
Available in a range of comfort levels, this RV class usually has taller ceilings and slide-out walls. These are generally the most spacious of all RV models. Despite their size, however, they are quite easy to handle. Other great Fifth Wheel features include many home conveniences such as bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and entertainment units.
One of the greatest features to me is the ability to detach the tow vehicle from the trailer. You can then park your trailer and use the truck for sightseeing, shopping or basically whatever you please.
Toy Hauler: Toy hauler trailers are one of the hottest trends in RVing, and a total hoot to boot. Going under several names, they are also known as Toy Box, Sport Utility Trailer (SUT), Sport Utility RV (SURV) and Ramp Trailer. Designed as part living space - usually located in the front end of the vehicle - and part storage compartment in the rear, they are great for taking motorcycles, snowmobiles, watercraft, bicycles and the like on the road, and are a big hit with travelers who want to take their active lifestyle with them on vacation.
Motorhome: The term originally referred to the vehicle manufactured by the Winnebago company almost 50 years ago and still serves as a synonym for vehicles produced by Winnebago Industries.
Now produced by many different manufacturers both in the US and abroad, the term “motorhome” has come to refer to single unit recreational vehicles, as opposed to the towable type.
Motorhomes are usually divided into three separate class types:
Class B Motorhomes
Class Bs are built using a conventional van which has had a raised roof added or the back replaced by a low-profile body. Modern Class B motorhomes have progressed far since the early days of van conversions.
You will find that today’s Class B motorhome can be as fully appointed as many a full-sized motorhome. They are also much easier to maneuver in urban settings, and are much easier to use, especially for drivers who are not accustomed to driving large vehicles.
Class B motorhomes are very popular as rental vehicles, especially in Europe. They are also popular with former full-time RV addicts who want to continue RVing on occasion but don’t want the upkeep and expense of owning a large Class A motorhome, or for families with older children who need a dual purpose vehicle that gets more than just weekend use.
Class C Motorhomes
Class Cs are built on a truck chassis with and attached cab section. Class C motorhomes are intermediate in size, being larger than the Class B’s, yet smaller than the Class A’s.
These midrange motorhomes offer many of the advantages of bigger motorhomes, yet generally take up less space and are easier to handle on some roads.They are easier to drive and maneuver than the average Class A, and are essentially a motorhome body stuck on a van chassis.
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